Re: (GRE Success! ) GRE prep.

Hi Santosh

It's unfortunate that we are getting back to you so late. I will get back to answering your queries.

I will answer your second question first and then your first question.

2) As far as the 3 universities are concerned, I guess the UFL, Gainesville ranks higher among all three; though I'm not sure about the rankings. Also the rankings seldom matter in these choices. When financial consideration is taken into account, still UFL is giving the maximum amount among all three. Also the cost of living is minimum in Gainesville compared to New York. But finally the things that matter is the program and the advisor. The advisor and the research he/she is into matter more in case of PhD, but I guess your friend has got into an MS program. So the program itself and the future aspirations become the deciding factors in the choice. The industry sector, though, is better in the New York area.

This should be considered as a counsel only and the best decision can be taken by your friend only. After all, it's his life, right?

1) First of all, I would like to give you the good news - 45 days is enough time for anyone to prepare from scratch; leave aside you who have already written the test twice. Coaching is not required at all; it's just a waste of time and money according to me. It's unfortunate though that you have not succeeded in scoring good in GRE. I suppose you need to look again at the strategy of preparation. Learning the Barron's words by rote will not help you in the long race because any language is not something that you can force yourself to remember or learn. It's a feeling that you need to instill into you; you have to enjoy the new language, love its nuances.

Enough philosophical talk already, let's delve into strategic discussion about how you can improve your score. I need you to answer one question - Are you from engineering background? If your answer is yes, then I think you should fare well in the Quant section. Maybe you need some practice, I mean regular practice, in the Quant section to be able to identify the traps in the Quant problems. If you remain careful enough, the Quant section should not be a problem. Just try to practice regularly.

For the success in the Verbal section, learning the words by rote won't help in the new format. You have to learn the essence of the usage of the words, be it new or old words. Any new word you learn, try to incorporate them in your sentences like don't take all my advice in a pejorative sense. Try to regularly use those words in writing and you have definitely to practice a lot of writing.

I hope this will provide some help to you and maybe other members will be able to help you a lot also.

 
Suvadeep Banerjee

Bachelor of Electrical Engineering
Jadavpur University, Kolkata
India

Website : http://suvadeep.webs.com/



________________________________
 From: santosh <[email protected]>
To: [email protected] 
Sent: Thursday, 12 April 2012 7:34 PM
Subject: (GRE Success! ) GRE prep.
 

  
Hello,

I have two questions today..hope i will get reply to both of them.so, here they are.

1. I  have given GRE 2 times  till now before august 2011(i.e in old pattern)..I got 1050(math-700,verbal -350) first time and 1020(math 660,verbal -360)2nd time..i tried to learn by rote all word lists in barron's and i really did so.I have to agree that i didn't practice well for both the tests and was concentrating only on wordlists. I did decent amount of practice 2nd time but i was scared that i would fail during 2nd time.Well,now i have booked my gre for the 3rd time in may.i.e in new pattern.Do i have to again learn by rote  all the word lists for new pattern?because ,its been long since i touched them after my 2nd attempt.And in what areas i should be concentrating more.I don't have any coaching with new pattern and i can't get any coaching as i stay away from home and coaching here is highly expensive. I also want to know which books should i follow and will 45 days of preparation be enough for giving the test.

2. A friend of mine doesn't have a yahoo account and wants me to ask this question for him.
He got into Electrical engineering department of University of florida gainesville,Syracus,USC and State university of newyork ,buffalo . he is confused about which one to join in.He also got 6000$ waiver in Syracuse and 12000$ waiver in UF. He got this admits for fall 2012.Kindly advice which univ which would be a better option and how?

Thank you.