GRE Study Tip

One of my senior had a copy of GRE Big Book and he let me borrow it. Since he's already done with GRE Exam, I can use it. He's applying for Visa for Fall 2009. I looked at the number of tests and answers they provide. Its going to be good practice for me to study from Big Book.

I'm not sure if those questions are from actual GRE Exam, but its from ETS, so the standard of the questions will be similar to what we would get in actual GRE Exam. I'm planning to take 1 exam every 2 days. But the good thing about Big Book is the answers they provide. I was able to find many new formulas they have used to solve math problems.

Also, I scored very poorly in Verbal practice test. I got 360 in Verbal. Most of the RC's I got it wrong. Looks like questions towards the end of the section are tough. Same with GRE Math section too. Also, I have to work on my timing. I'm spending way too much time in first few questions. but, for CBT GRE Exam, I think firts few questions has more weight than later questions.

GRE Study Tip - Make a not of the new GRE words into Flash Cards, instead of a notebook. Its easy to carry the flash cards with you, than a notebook. Right now I have 25 flash cards.

University Selection by Consultancy

Many consultancy in Coimbatore, Chennai, provide university selection, document processing, visa document preparation and many services. But, looks like fees charged by them are very expensive. 2 days back, I went to a consultancy in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. 

They are charging Rs50,000 for applying for 4 Universities. We can select 2 schools and they will select 2 schools. But, they guarantee admission in atleast 1 university. We don't need to pay application fees, courier fees and other expenses. But, we have to pay for GRE and TOEFL score forwarding.

I'm not sure about the quality of the schools they would apply. Also, I think they will apply to some low ranked college, even though I might get better score. I asked them if they will apply to schools I select from the choice to 2 universities. They will review my 2 universities choice and then they might apply for that. It's no guarantee that they will apply for 2 universities of my choice.

From what I read about consultancy, looks like university will pay them for sending applications. So, they might try to get into schools where they have some kind of deals. And usually we will end up getting admission in their choice of university. Not the ones we specify.

So, is it worth to spend Rs 50,000 to apply through them? I'm not sure. Based on my GRE Score, I will have to decide. If I score above 1000 then for sure, I will apply myself. For less then 1000 score, I can think about going through the consultancy. I'm going to visit 2 more consultancy this week. Will see how much they charge. 

Looks like this a good business to be in. Many students go to US and if we find a way to make a deal with schools, then its free money. But, again it will take time and effort to establish the business. 

Universities I browsed - 

• University of Texas at Arlington
  
• University of Florida
  
• University of Arizona
  
• New Mexico State University
  

GRE Study Tip - If i find a new formula for GRE Math, I will write it down in a notebook. So, far I have added 15 new formulas that I haven't seen or come across. 

GRE Verbal Words Using Flash Cards

I started using GRE flash cards for last few days. I got few thick paper sheets and had it cut into visiting card size. I write down all the words I'm having hard time to remember. Also, write down the meaning of the words on the back side.

I carry 10 cards with me all the time. In between class, I give to my friend and he would ask me the words from the card. I'm trying this for last 3 days. I was able to remember all the words I have in the card with much ease. This GRE flash card is working for me.

Number of flash card I write in a day varies from 10 to 15. I usually study 40 to 50 words per day. New GRE words and also revise words I studied from previous days. I was having hard time to remember the words, but in last 3 days I was able to remember additional 30 words.

I'm planning to make more flash cards and see how I can improve my GRE Verbal words skills. So far I have completed 3 words list and working on 4th. After 4th word list, I'm going to study the last word list and study 3 to 4 from the that order.  I will write about GRE Flash Cards experience and impact of improving the vocabulary in few days.

Title - What is In-state Fees?

Last night I was looking at tuition fees for few universities. I'm confused to see there is 2 types of fees

1) In-state Fees ( ~3000)
2) Out of State Fees ( ~9000)

In state fees is very less, compared to out of state fees. I'm not sure what fees international students have to pay. But, even paying In state fees looks US education is going to be very expensive. One of my college senior said, they pay around $700 per month in University of Southern California for living expense, even after sharing the apartment.

700$ is almost equal to Rs35,000 per month. Software engineer in India gets Rs15,000 per month right after college. Looks like studying in US without aid is going to be difficult. But, I want to find out the difference between 2 fees and if F1 visa students can pay In state fees.

My GRE preparation is going very well, looks like remembering words from Barrons is going o take lot of effort and time. If I read 50 words, after 2 weeks time, I can remember only 15 of those. I really don't know how many words I learn from Barrons come in GRE Exam.

Also, looks like scoring above in verbal section is going to be tough. I have to ask few of my friends from the coaching center to see how much they are scoring in practice tests.

Also, I found this interesting article about a student scoring 1520 in GRE. http://arslanaziz.blogspot.com/2008/09/this-is-collection-of-advice-i-had.html

I cannot understand about credits and how GPA is calculated. Its going to be a long ways to understand the whole admission process. I will post all my experience here.

GRE or GMAT Exam?

I was browsing few universities in U.S. One of my class mate is preparing for GMAT exam. So, I was curious to know more about GMAT. I know GMAT is expensive than GRE, but is it difficult then GRE? I'm not sure. I plan to take practice test for GMAT.

Most of the schools in U.S. required GMAT to be considered for MBA admission. But there are some schools like Stanford, MIT which accepts GRE for MBA. thats good news. But, getting admission will be tough.

But, from ETS website, I saw atleast 150 schools accepting GRE for MBA. So, lets say I get 1300+ in GRE, do you think I can apply for MBA to couple of colleges and MS in Computer Science in 4-5 universities. I will first have to decide if MBA is right for me and then think about applying for MBA. But the good news is - I can apply for MS and MBA with GRE Exam.

But, applying to US itself is going to be expensive.

GRE Exam Fee
TOEFL Exam Fee
College Application Fee
GRE and TOEFL Score forwarding fees
University Transcript fees
Express Courier to US - Fees
Travel costs to get all the documents.

So, I thinking it will cost around Rs50,000 to Rs70,000 to apply for 8 universities. That huge cost. But, there is not other option. See you guys in next article.

How many hours to Study per day for GRE?

I have over 5 months for GRE, but I'm not sure how many hours to study for GRE. I'm spending atleast 2-3 hours per day. I don't spend much time daily on college courses. always we have study holiday to get through the subjects.

But, I cant study just 10 days for GRE and expect to score 1300 or more. Since my practice test score was 1100 plus, I'm confident with 3 hours preperation per day, I will be able to improve my score.

Also, I'm planning to attend GRE coaching classes in Chennai. I have to figure out if those coaching centers are really worth, if not I will tart pending more time in a day to GRE.

Usually 1 hour I spend with word list and 2 hours in Math. I need to spend 2 hours or more for Verbal and 1 hours should be enough for Math.