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!
Here’s the next part of Debanjana’s tips – this time with lots of specifics for each section of the test!
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Before starting with this set of tips specifically for the Quantitative, Verbal and AW sections, I must mention that I took classes from Dilip Oak’s Academy and I will be talking a lot about the Academy’s classes and materials because I found them extremely useful in preparing for these sections. In giving these tips, I am also assuming that you too are a student of Dilip Oak’s Academy. Of course, you will have your own experience and perspective, but here’s what I would suggest.
Tackling the Quantitative Reasoning Sections:
- OK, I know this is going to sound a lot like what Ashwin wrote in his post, but I still have to say it: attend all the classes and pay full attention. The formulae and techniques that are taught in class are absolutely invaluable and going through the sums in class is great practice – which is important especially if you are working and have little time to practice after the classes.
- I know that engineers find the GRE Quant easy, but don’t give up on practicing. If you can keep pace with the classes (and understand what is happening in them!) and then do some practice on your own, you will be able to come up with your own techniques that will help you solve problems faster and more accurately.
- Practice all the sums given in the workbooks by Oak’s. They will help you cover most of the common problem types that appear in GRE. Aim at completing at least 20 sums in 35 minutes (i.e. the equivalent of one Quantitative section) every day. (Check with the explanatory answers as well to make sure you understand the answers.) Go to other material only after finishing the Oak’s material.
- Before going on to the advanced formulae, make sure you get a good grasp of the basic ones. Begin by applying these first and foremost. All GRE sums can be done using these formulae. Advanced techniques are mainly to save time.
- Remember, GRE sums are never difficult, but they may be tricky. When you encounter a tricky sum, don’t panic or confuse yourself by trying to use the advanced formulae. Use the basic ones. Keep it simple.
- In case of geometry or co-ordinate geometry, draw figures as much as possible, even if you feel that the questions can be solved using formulae. Difficult sums are much easier to tackle with this approach.
- Don’t neglect Data Interpretation. You will definitely get a high percentage of DI sums on the test. Here, try to deduce as much as possible just from looking at the graphs. If time is short and you panic and cannot quickly come up with some efficient technique, use direct calculations – and please make use of the calculator; DI sums were the only ones in which I used it.
- First concentrate on accuracy and then on timing. This will lead to more efficient practice.
- Finally, learn certain data by heart like the value of pi, or the percentage equivalent of some commonly used fractions and vice-versa, or the squares and cubes of some commonly-used numbers and whatever else you feel like knowing.
Tackling the Verbal Sections:
- Here too, there is no substitute for classes, especially for learning the techniques for SC, SE and RC question. If you are in doubt about how to apply them, please consult the teachers and they will help you. The GRE is all about thinking in the right way.
- You will have to learn all the 4000 words. There is no alternative. Words from outside the list will also come. However, learning all the 4000 words will ensure that you have at most one unknown word in your options.
- Don’t leave words for the end or try and mug more words than you can in a day. Actually, you need to ‘cultivate’ the words rather than mugging them up.
- While learning words, try and get familiar with their connotations, collocations, usage and tone of the words. This can only happen if you read (or use) these words. I personally used to read novels by authors like Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer and the unabridged versions of the classics. Many of you will find this boring, but you reading books will give you a very good feel for the words. Also, this will provide you with practice on understanding unknown words from the context, which is very helpful if you come up with unknown words in passages in the exam.
- Oak’s will show you a variety of ways of learning words. Try all of them and choose the one you feel comfortable with. The VaiVocabulary software is very helpful. Try it at least once.
- Some of you may find learning roots of words useful. This will help you remember words longer.
- Revise a lot. If possible revise every few days all the words you have learnt till that point.
- Try different ways of revising. For example, revise synonyms together or revise similar sounding words together and so on.
- You must learn or revise some words every day.
- Since I read a lot, I did not find doing RCs very difficult. Oak’s will teach you a number of tricks to tackle RCs. Use them if you are comfortable with them. I personally used to read the whole passage and understand it in my own way and then answer the questions. I did not use any trick.
- In all Verbal questions, use elimination to arrive at the correct answer. Even if you are pretty sure of the answer, do eliminate the other options.
- If you come across unknown words in the options during the exam, I would suggest using elimination to narrow down the options. I found this more useful than trying to guess the meaning of the word from the roots.
- In SC and SE questions, after choosing your options, read the whole sentence or paragraph again fitting in the words you chose in the blanks. If you do so, you will eliminate many silly mistakes that tend to creep in if you choose answers only by looking at the options.
- Practice from Oak’s workbooks and once you are through with them practice from other books.
Tackling the AWM Section:
- Don’t ignore this section altogether. I know the Quantitative and Verbal scores matter the most. But with a 330+ in Quant and Verbal, a 3.0 or less in AWM does not look at all good.
- Make full use of the AWM counselling sessions provided by Oak’s. The personalized, in-depth feedback they provide is really very helpful.
- Try to distribute the counseling sessions evenly out throughout the period of your preparation. It is difficult to correct errors in your writing style overnight. So if you start getting feedback early, you will have more time to make the required changes.
- Everybody has his/her own writing style. Stick to your natural style (except for the errors, of course!) and don’t try and make major changes in your style to make it seem more impressive. People will tell you to use GRE or Barrons words in your essays. But if they don’t come naturally to you, don’t use them. It will only decrease your score. The AW counsellors will guide you very well in this and other matters of style. They know how much change is required or can be expected out of you. Follow their advice.
- Give emphasis to the organisation and structure of your essays rather than to words.
- Practice writing timed essays. If you don’t do so, you may face problems in the main exam.
This week’s blog is by another of our high scorers, Debanjana Nayak who got a a really great score of 330/340. What makes this score a special one is that Debanjana is working.
So, this post is especially for all the working folks: if you are in a job and feel it might be difficult for you to prepare, here’s some inspiration! (By the way this post is just the first part. More to follow!)
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Before, I start with my tips, here is a bit on my background. I graduated with an Electronics and Communication Engineering degree from WBUT in 2010 and soon after joined Tech Mahindra as a Technical Associate. I have been working there for almost 2 years now.
After having worked in the company for about 1 year, I decided to pursue higher studies in the US (targeting fall 2013). Since I intended to keep my job and prepare for the exams (GRE & TOEFL) side-by-side, I started preparation early, around October, 2011, almost 7 months in advance. I finally gave my GRE on 25th April, 2012. My scores are as follows:
- Quantitative – 166/170
- Verbal – 164/170
- AWM – 4/6
I feel that the key to cracking the GRE test lies in the Verbal Sections (though one cannot neglect the Quant sections either). The fact that my entire education has been in English medium helped me a lot. So did the fact that I am an avid reader and read articles on any and every subject. My exposure to a wide variety of fields really helped me with the RCs and vocabulary. Quant was relatively simple and did not bother me much. However, the ‘4000 words’ was a real burden, but it was a necessary one, as far as GRE is concerned.
First, here’s some general stuff about the GRE test.
Overall:
1.) The GRE test can be given in 2 slots – the first in the morning (from 8 a.m.onwards) and the second in the afternoon (from 12 noon). Consider both the times very carefully and decide on the slot when you feel you would be able to give your best performance.
Many people choose the 2nd slot. I personally felt that 8 a.m. was better for me. Very few people are present in the morning slot, so there is a lot less disturbance (I was alone in my case). Afternoon slots are usually full. So take that into consideration as well.
Once you have decided your time slot, create your study schedule such that you do most of the studying during this time. Also, give the practice exams in the timeframe you have decided for the main GRE.
2.) I know many people suggest concentrating on maths more. But GRE Quant is very simple for engineering students. So the better approach for engineers would be to improve your Verbal skills, while brushing up your Quant concepts through regular practice. Trust me 170 in Quant would get you nowhere, if you get only 135 in Verbal!
3.) Don’t give the GRE test as a ‘trial’. A few of my friends went for trial attempts at GRE with the idea that it would be very simple. Their scores were not at all good. This got them demotivated and they have entirely given up on the idea of studying abroad. So I feel that you should not go for trial attempts.
4.) So, do not underestimate the GRE and take it very lightly. Practice a lot. Prepare very well for the GRE, and fix on a date only when you think you are ready.
Again, do not overestimate it and stress yourself too much about it. Do not stress yourself in the last week. Don’t even think about studying on the day before the exam. Stress can create problems on the D Day.
5.) While taking the actual exam, do not worry about scores.Don’t worry if you feel that the 2nd sections have not increased in difficulty level.Take each section as it comes. I found it useful to train my mind to think that I was giving 7 exams of about 30 minutes each, rather than 1 exam of about 4 hrs. This was one thing that helped me perform well on the actual exam.
6.) After completing a section if you have some time left, revise. Don’t be in a hurry to submit the exam. There is no award for this.
7.) I know a lot of people who have given the GRE recently and it is my general observation that people who got 3 Verbal sections scored more than those with 3 Quant sections. I have no logical explanation for this. The GRE algorithm is very complex and you cannot predict how it will behave.
8.) After giving the GRE, if you feel that you could have done better, don’t worry, you can write it again. Analyse your performance, work on your weaknesses and, if your preparation was not as good as it should have been the first time, with good preparation you should be able to do better on the second attempt.
Practice Material & Tests:
Oak’s workbooks are very good and first complete these. I found that it good to go through as much material as possible and complete as many CBTs as possible. Get all the practice you can.
That’s all I have to say about the test in general. In my next post there will be more specific tips on Verbal, Quant and AW.Keep watching this space!