Practice for Reading Comprehension on the GRE
Once you have completed your preliminary reading, you should have gained several benefits:
- exposure to fields outside your normal reading
- knowledge of terms and concepts; personalities, processes, phenomena; and in general ideas and things in those unfamiliar fields
- an ability to handle complex sentence structure and phrasing
- an ability to understand the structure of passages and the modes of reasoning used and to understand the author’s main point.
Once you have attained some level of comfort on these fronts, you are ready to tackle the GRE reading comprehension passages in the practice material. The order in which you will do this final material is as follows.
- Medium-level GRE Reading Comprehension
- Hard GRE Reading Comprehension
- ETS Material
Medium-level GRE RC – RC Extra Practice (Sets 1-10)
- Over 80 passages, over 350 questions (approx.)
- Sets 1-4 contain:
- 58 short-medium passages (15-45 lines)
- 178 questions of the new and modified types:
- New: select-the-sentence-in-the-passage, double highlighted portion questions
- Modified: EXCEPT, Triple True/False, single highlighted portion
- Sets 5-10 contain:
- 30 long passages (60-75 lines)
- 201 questions of the older types (those continued in this version of the GRE test with minor modifications)
- Do the first sets untimed, the latter sets timed when you are comfortable with the techniques
Hard RC – Homework Material
- Verbal Ability Extra Practice Material:
- passages in pairs (one short, one medium)
- 11 questions on a pair of passages
- complete a pair of passages in 15 minutes as practice on timing
- Book 2 – hard passages and tricky questions; do last
ETS Material
This includes:
- Practice Test PDF – this is a full-length paper-based GRE test with 2 full-length Verbal sections (the PDF is available free on GRE site in the Test Taker’s section)
- PowerPrep 2.0 – 2 full-length CBTs
Take the PowerPrep tests after you have done all the other computer-based tests available in the market. The PowerPrep will give you the most accurate indicator of what your score is likely to be in the actual GRE. See the blog on Computer-based Practice for the CBT.
- ETS Official Guide
- 3 sets of material (easy, medium and hard) for both RC and discrete questions.
- 2 full-length paper-based tests (different from the one on the site)
The ETS material is the best available. This is what you should be practicing on immediately before your actual GRE test.
CBT – Practice on the Computer-Based Tests (1 month before GRE test)
The final stage of your GRE prep is taking practice GRE computer-based tests. If you are a student at Dilip Oak’s Academy, here is the plan – if you’re not, you are missing out!
- Start doing the Computer-based tests 3 weeks-1 month before the GRE.
- There are 10 Oaks tests (5 to be taken in the lab and 5 online) and two PowerPrep tests from the ETS, making a total of 12.
- Going through all of them, at the rate of one every 2-3 days will take about a month.
Material to be Covered and Order:
Given below are the tests you should take and the order in which you should take them. Carefully read the accompanying notes wherever they are given – they will save you a lot of confusion.
- The Oak’s free full-length diagnostic test
- The free test is separate from the 4 online tests that you will do at the end of your GRE course at Dilip Oak’s Academy
- You will have to register separately for the free online test at http://online.dilipoakacademy.com/ (click on the url to register).
- The login and password for the 4 Oak’s online tests are given in your I-Card; they are NOT to be used for the free test.
- This test should be taken as a diagnostic, to help you identify your areas of weakness, so that you can eliminate them while you are attending the course or, as you do the paper-based practice material.
- The Oak’s tests are harder than the GRE test, so to get a more accurate estimate of what your score will be in the actual test, add 10-12 marks to your score in the Oak’s tests. (This applies both for the free tests and for the 4 online tests.)
- First ETS PowerPrep II test
- The ETS PowerPrep II software contains 2 full-length CBTs.
- The PowerPrep II tests can be obtained either from CD in the ETS’s Official Guide for the GRE or, from the GRE website, where you can download the software.
- Do the first test after you have completed (most of) your paper-based practice material, so that you will understand the question types, techniques and timing thoroughly before you attempt the test.
- Your score in the PowerPrep II software will be given in the form of a range on the earlier 200-800 scale (so, for example, your verbal score might be given as 550-650/800). You can convert this into the corresponding range on the new scale using ETS’s concordances (score conversion tables) at the following url: http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/concordance_information.pdf
- 5 Tests in the Oak’s Lab – these are onscreen practice exercises which will prepare you for the full-length CBTs
- 4 Dilip Oak’s Tests Online – remember to add 10 marks to your overall score to get a more accurate idea of what your score will be in the GRE since our tests are tougher than the actual GRE.
- Second ETS PowerPrep II test – this will give you a fairly good idea of where you stand at the end of your preparation.
Take your last test a day or two before your actual exam – don’t do any last minute testing. This is the final stage of preparation. So, after this you should be all set to do your GRE. All the best!
For GRE and GMAT test-takers, the Analytical Writing Section may sometimes seem to be an uphill climb. With only a half an hour to brainstorm ideas, make an outline and finally type in the entire essay, it may not always be possible to transfer your thoughts to the word processor exactly as you want. The result is often essays that fall short of what the examiner expects in order to award a 4.
The links below are a part of the Online Writing Lab, a project started by Purdue University, which helps teachers and students in developing their English Language skills and rectifying the errors that they make in their essays. They provide valuable suggestions on how to structure sentences correctly and avoid minor errors in English that we as non-native speakers of the language tend to make. Visit them and start improving your Analytical Writing essays immediately.
Note: if you are taking the TOEFL exam, these links will be a big help to you too.
1. For examples on how to use transition words and phrases effectively, especially on how to move smoothly from one paragraph to another:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/574/1/
2. For tips on how to improve sentence clarity through using parallel constructions, transition phrases, clear pronoun references and other grammatical devices:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/600/1/
3. For learning when to use capital letters and when to go with small case:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/592/1/
4. For making sure we don’t confuse our a’s, an’s and the’s:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/
5. For advice on proper subject-verb agreement:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/1/
The rules and examples on these links are easy to follow and implement in your own writing. Use them to polish your writing and get that high Analytical Writing score.
This week we bring you Suhas Bhadgaonkar, a software professional, and one of our alumni. He’s here with his experiences in getting admission to UC Irivine.
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Profile:
Name: Sagar Suhas Bhadgaonkar
Degree: BE (Computer Engineering), Univ. of Pune
Work Experience: 2.5+ years in Accenture Technology Solutions, as a Software Engineer
GRE Score: 1400 (Old Scale)/ 322 (New Scale)
Break Up:
– Verbal: 640 (Old Scale)/162 (New Scale)
– Quant: 760 (Old Scale)/160 (New Scale)
TOEFL: 112/120
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My journey to a US university started when an acquaintance came to visit my home in Pune after spending a few years working for Oracle in San Jose. It was mid-May, and some of my other friends from Accenture had got admits from American universities and were planning to get visas and complete other application formalities. There was a ‘buzz’ in the air about going to America. My friend’s visit was like a little piece of sodium dropped into a bowl of water. The thought of the opportunities that lay in wait for me in the US began to bubble up in my mind. When the ‘reaction’ had subsided, higher studies and subsequent professional opportunities in America were the clear focus.
Like a lot of us who are now going to US, I was born and brought up in a middle class family with no immediate relatives in US). So, though the thought of studying further, or doing ‘something’, had been present in my mind for quite a while, I had never planned on going to US for higher education. The examples of my friends started me thinking about pursuing an MS in the USA.
I had not joined MS/MBA classes in the third or fourth year of Engineering, as many do so, I did not have much information about how to begin my preparations. I also needed motivation and the right direction to start my preparations. Joining Dilip Oak’s Academy (DOA) was the best decision I could have taken. The GRE coaching and counseling both really helped me, clearing up a lot of confusion, and helping me concentrate only on what was needed.
1. Coaching:
– Coaching, specifically for Verbal and AW, was the most enjoyable part of classes, thanks to the great teaching faculty. You need someone to guide you on how to go about the Verbal as well as the AW prep for GRE, especially on the much feared RC passages – and that is exactly what they did. The prep material given by DOA is also of very good quality and provides ample practice.
– The tests taken at the DOA computer lab helped me get a feel of the real exam day. (There is a huge difference between tests taken at home and outside. For the hard, and not so easy to score questions, DOA tests are best).
– The DOA online tests are comparatively tough. But the fact that I got lower scores in the DOA tests than in PowerPrep, Kaplan, etc. motivated me to study harder for each subsequent test. This helped me to gradually improve. (Sign up for the FREE TEST here and see what Sagar is talking about.)
2. The Admission Process:
– My SOP counselor at the Academy helped me draft a good SOP, which we refined and polished till it was fully ready for application. The SOP sessions clearly helped me to bring out my strengths. So, though my acads are average, (largely due to the first year of engineering!) my high GRE score and the strong SOP I drafted at Oak’s Academy made up for that.
– Using rankings on websites such as US News and Microsoft Academic Research, and by talking to my friends, I also made a list of around 20 universities that I was interested in.
– In university selection sessions, Dilip Oak Sir then helped me choose 8 out of these 20 universities to apply to. The sessions with Oak Sir were very important in helping me get a clear picture of my chances at various universities. Out of the 8 universities we selected, I got 4 admits.
– The DOA Staff gave me very good guidance throughout the application process. I prepared my application packets for the first 2-3 universities at the DOA center itself.
3. Visa Process:
The sessions for filling the DS160 form, financial document preparation, mock interviews by Oak Sir proved important for the visa process enabling me to get familiar with what to expect and allowing me to face the dreaded visa interviews with confidence.
I took my GRE in June 2011 in the old format and scored 1400. Then I prepared a good SOP with my counselor at DOA. Finally, I took the TOEFL in October 2011, scoring 112/120. UC Irvine was the last university I applied to, and it received the recommendations after the deadline! I was still selected. UC Irvine is my best admit and my destination.
What I realized after everything was over is that taking the exams is only the first and most simple step in applying for admission to a US university. It is the most simple because the outcome is totally in our hands (except, of course, for things like inconvenient rains which I did experience in Mumbai and which caused me a little irritation during the test!). However, everything after that – SOP, applications, admits, rejects, and most importantly, the VISA! – is subjective and complex and each has a number of aspects to be considered. So, the application’s process is very difficult to get through with good results unless you have a lot of help.
The last two years have been a long hard slog but, I am happy to have had the enthusiastic and invaluable support of my family and Dilip Oak’s Academy throughout this time. I am glad that after waiting for so long, I am going to be a part of the university I dreamt of going to. As I reminisce about it, with the visa stamped on my passport for my dream admit in UC Irvine, I think joining DOA was a very crucial decision.
Thank you Aai, Baba and Dilip Oaks Academy!
See also:
For takers of the TOEFL examination, the www.toeflgoanywhere.org website offers a host of preparation materials and tips for cracking the exam. One easy-to-use resource is the Online Study Group that presents a creative and interactive way for students to pick up helpful hints.
The Study Group covers all the four sections – Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing – in four separate videos, each showing a conversation among four friends. The casual style of the videos makes it much easier for students to grasp the strategies than reading study material about the exam.
The videos mainly focus on important support skills such as paraphrasing and summarizing, which come in handy for the Writing, Reading and Speaking sections. The suggestions for the Listening section include simple things that one can do as part of one’s daily routine – watching American sit-coms and listening to English songs to improve vocabulary, for example. Or, reading aloud articles from magazines to improve fluency in speech for students who find it difficult to come up with quick answers in the Speaking section.
The Study Group videos are an interesting and quick way to learn some basic strategies for the TOEFL exam, and are especially useful for students who are just starting out on their TOEFL preparation. So, if you haven’t yet begun on your TOEFL preparation, take fifteen minutes out of your study schedule to visit this link:
http://www.toeflgoanywhere.org/meet-study-group-tips-test-takers-you
Raj, Val, Min and Celia will share important tips with you based on their TOEFL experience!