Hello, I have been practicing for GRE since a long time and yet I have seen improvement in the quantitative section but my VERBAL has been constant in terms of improvement.
Current Score: As for now I did not take any GRE test yet.
Target Score: At least 1300-1400 (according to the old GRE)
Number of weeks (or months) to GRE Exam: 3 months.
Which GRE Books?: I am following Barron’s GRE. However I have completed the book but still I find hell lot of difficulties with the verbal.
Preparation (time, hours per day, schedule): As I am still in the final year of the graduation and find it difficult to take out time, still, I tend to devote 5-6 hours per day.
Overview: I am really very worried regarding the Verbal and get nervous seeing reading comprehension in front of myself.
Help.!
barron’s book is worthless for verbal scoring coz the questions in this book very simple than those ask in exam.
hey can anyone plz answer…..
while applying for the admission to any u.s university can i send the copy of my G.R.E score card that is send to my email bcoz… i have taken my G.R.E in march 2012 but i dint get my score card to my residence yet bcoz of some mistake in address can anyone plz suggest me what to do………………….
Hi anunya,
I guess it doesnt work that way.!
your GRE report card is just for your record and not for the universities you are applying in.
You need to send your GRE score to the university via the GRE’s website (i.e http://www.ets.org )
go to the website, create your account and enter your registration number that you got into your E-Mail when u registered for the Test, and then you’ll be able to see your score online and send in your score to the universities of your choice(ets charges for sending your scores to the universities).
Hope this helps,
Sam
Thank u so much for ur reply…..n
Besides sending the score card to the universities via GRE’s website, is it needed to send an other copy along with our documents?????(i mean along with our 10th,12th n under graduation transcripts n SOP,etc…..)
This is a commonly asked question, and it has a very simple answer. Of course, no one likes hearing this answer.
How do you get better at reading?
By reading.
That’s it. There’s no magic involved.
However, I understand that such a pithy answer will lead to all of you yelling at me, so let me try and explain.
There are two major components to reading comprehension: Vocabulary, and some knowledge of the subject being discussed. And I’d argue that vocabulary is enough to overcome a lack of knowledge of the subject being discussed, at least for the purposes of the GRE.
Y’see, if you know what the words mean, you can figure out what the author is talking about; certainly enough to make an educated guess (which is not the same thing as randomly guessing).
Here’s an example to illustrate:
“After the writer’s novel “The Satanic Verses,” one word would soon be hung around his neck like a millstone: “fatwa””
This sentence is from the New Yorker’s front page (as of this writing): http://www.newyorker.com/#ixzz265WVFJVg
Let’s look at the sentence by separating it into its component parts.
“After the writer’s novel” <- This should be understood by everyone hoping to take the GRE. If you can't understand simple words like this, you need to work very hard and learn the language. Please note that I'm not making fun of you; I personally know a gentleman from a village in Rajasthan who learned how to speak (and read, and write) fluent English at the age of 30. My mother taught him, and it took him a year to get to the point of reading simple sentences like this. He started with A.b.c., and now he reads the Times of India everyday. He worked hard.
"The Satanic Verses" <- Here's where prior knowledge comes in. If you know what this means, you already know what the long article is about, and your RC is easy. If you don't know, don't worry, you can still answer questions if you understand the next few words.
"be hung around his neck like a millstone" <- Now it gets interesting. This is a simile (pronounced si-mi-lee), and has a specific meaning. If you know what that means, you're home free.
Perhaps you have no idea what "simile" means. Alright, let's go further.
"hung around his neck" <- I'm hoping that this is pretty clear, yes? Something is hung around someone's neck.
"millstone" <- "But what is a millstone??? Is it like a Bridgestone??" And THIS is where vocabulary comes in. Even if you don't know what a millstone is, if you do know what a mill is, and what a stone is, you can guess. What is a mill? It's a place where things are ground into powder, or otherwise crushed. Sugar mill, flour mill, etc. A stone? Stones are heavy, and grinding, crushing stones.. probably very heavy. So, something very hung around someone's neck.
If something heavy was hung around your neck, you probably would't be happy, right? Stress, danger, fear.. all this would happen to you. And all this happened to the person in question, because of ….
a .. "fatwa" <- again, vocabulary. This isn't an English word, but it's commonly used in the news, and if you know what it means, you can tell where this article is going.
—-
So you see, if you understand the words, you can figure out the subject, even if you didn't know anything about it in the past. That's sorta the purpose of language, and the written word.
So READ. Read something you like, that's also well written. Cricket? Read Cricinfo; especially the columns. Movies? Read Rajeev Masand's reviews (not that great, but I don't know of any others.. perhaps in The Hindu?) Women? Read Jezebel.com, or Maxim (I'm not kidding). Cars? Read Top Gear Mag.
Of course, you have to make an effort to read some complicated stuff too. The Economist, The New Yorker, your GRE books.. whatever.
If you read something you like, you'll find yourself reading more, and pretty soon, you'll see that you're getting better at understanding.
There's also a whole technique to reading RCs, but you need to have some speed reading skills and a good vocabulary first. I could talk about those in a later comment, perhaps, if someone is interested.
hey can u plz answer…..
while applying for the admission to any u.s university can i send the copy of my G.R.E score card that is send to my email bcoz… i have taken my G.R.E in march 2012 but i dint get my score card to my residence yet bcoz of some mistake in address can anyone plz suggest me what to do………………….
http://www.happyschoolsblog.com/gre-reading-comprehension-practice-questions/
Yeah,
I’ll suggest few things based on my experience just follow.
First of all Don’t worry just keep the things simple,don’t push them hard as you’re just in final year graduation you’ll face lots of problems with Verbal.
The more tension you take the less score you’ll get in the final exam. (Tension means bad time, relaxation means god time)
Coming to the study plan:
If you can spend money like 7000, just buy Manhattan’s 8 strategy guides which help me to pull my score from 145 to 165 in quant (still I have one month left for my exam)
Verabl is basically to test the knowledge which you have gained over the years but not over 2 or three months of time so it is all about the presence of mind that you show in the exam, So just concentrate on improve active reading (Economist is the best it includes tough phrases as well as good vocabulary) for 2 hrs daily. just see the difference in two months.
And finally after your preparation while writing exams you’ll do lots of silly mistakes and come across with new kind of problems for that you need very good practice to avoid any kind of silly mistakes.
So if you can spend some 3500 you buy Barron’s GRE prep product (online) and write all the exams where you’ll have more than 120 (10 questions each) and that will definitely help you achieve 320+
Be cool and clam and don’t push the things, let it go smooth.
Hope that helps for your preparation.
Cheers,
Naresh
Hey,
I suggest you go through Princeton Review latest edition .. It has very nice techniques to deal with RC..
And also make it a point to write Mock tests periodically..
All the best buddy !!!