Some tips to get higher AWA scores!

First I would list out the points from my favourite prep book on AWA. These points would surely act as a reminder for everyone!

1.       Be articulate and precise – a reminder as most people loose out here

2.       Correct in grammar, mechanics and usage

3.       Persuasive in style

4.       Variations in sentence length and structure – important point to note

I guess you all know this already. Don’t try and memorize the essays as it can only lead to problems! Just to improve on your ability to tackle issue topics, go through U.S. News & World Report, the economist, The Hindu and The telegraph! There are other good reading resources as well!!! So read what you like to but be sure it is of use (don’t sit and read nancy drews!!!)

Now I would give you a few tips which would definitely help you with your scores!

1.       Divide your answer into 5-6 cohesive paragraphs inclusive of an introductory one and an apt concluding paragraph as well.

2.       Introduction should provide a very brief, yet compelling idea as to what you are about to present.

3.       Use words or phrases which show professional tone. Some examples would be

·         An essential reason for my contention

·         Nonetheless, for specific tasks

·         Reason for me fundamentally agreeing with the speaker

·         A compelling reason for instilling these attributes….

·         We must, however also consider certain other attributes…..

·         I concede that undue attention to this issue has been the norm…

·         Several examples from our daily life serve to highlight the same….

·         His assertion accords with the everyday experience….

·         Admittedly, the speaker’s second contention finds support……

·         Social and political events that shape our culture…..

In essence, what I am trying to show is the type of language one must try and incorporate. I concede that for many of us it is quite difficult to infuse these writing skills overnight. However, those who have time can and should try and do so by exhaustive reading and practice as well.

Do try and follow the formality of the language as it is the key to good score. As I have shown above, even with familiar words, we can easily conjure cohesive points and formulate good essays. I would also like to stress upon the speed and time factor. The interrelationship definitely holds true in this case as well and therefore it would be prudent on your part to make sure you are upto the task on D-Day. Improve upon your writing speed using speed typing softwares  if need be! I guess that with the profusion of internet and computers in India, it should not be a problem for most of you to finish the essays well in advance! Please refer to my previous articles on AWA topics as well!!!

10 ways to improve your GRE score

I have absolutely no idea why I am writing this post!! It’s probably the hour long follow-up session that I just had with all the universities that I have applied to! To be honest, I have come to feel that the toughest part of the graduate admission process is surely this seemingly neverending wait!!! Anyhow these ten steps are for all undergrads gearing up for GRE preparations!! Hope you guys are able to use these tips (I never had so much information on my hands…..guess was just too lazy to search for it!!!)

1. Relax:
Preparing for the GRE can be stressful. Try to focus on the task at hand and not so much on everything else you have to do. If you take GRE test prep step-by-step, day-by-day, and give yourself breaks when your body needs them, you’ll be able to concentrate on GRE studies a lot better.
2. GRE Diagnostic Test:
Begin GRE test prep with a GRE practice test to find out what you’re good at, and more importantly, what you’re not good at. Correct your completed practice test and evaluate the questions you missed. What kind of questions did you miss? Are they mostly Quantitative or mostly Verbal? What score would you give yourself on Analytical Writing? Did you miss a lot of analogies but do well on reading comprehension? With this information you’ll be able to focus your GRE test prep studies on your weaknesses.
3. GRE Study Plan:
With your GRE weaknesses in mind, make a very specific study plan for yourself. You should know what, how, and when you are going to study for the GRE test. Put your study plan somewhere in plain view, and make sure you stick to your plan.
Try to keep GRE test prep interesting by planning to study different things in different ways. For example, study GRE vocabulary from flash cards one day, from a list the second day, and by reading and learning words in context the third day.
4. GRE Vocabulary:
The single-most effective way to improve GRE Verbal score is with GRE vocabulary. Start studying GRE vocabulary now. Study a word list, use flash cards, learn with software, or learn words in context with The Wall Street Journal. Do whatever it takes to learn new words. Improve your vocabulary skills and watch your GRE score improve.
5. Active Reading:
Practice reading every day, but don’t read like you would your favorite book. Read actively. Ask yourself, “What is the main theme?”, “Report or opinion?”, and “What is the author’s purpose?” You’ll see these questions on the GRE, so you should be on the lookout for the answers. You should also use GRE-level material, such as The Wall Street Journal, to practice your GRE reading comprehension. You might not like the articles, but most likely you won’t like the passages on the GRE either, so you should get used to it.
6. Math Language:
Learning GRE math is like learning a new language. To improve your GRE Quantitative score you have to practice, and the more you practice the more fluent you will become. If you don’t practice, you’ll never improve.
Hence, do as many practice Quantitative problems as you can and learn from your mistakes. When examining your wrong answers, don’t move on to the next question until you understand the current one. The whole point of math practice is so that you can learn from mistakes during practice and not on the real GRE.
7. Essay:
Get used to writing an outline before you actualy start an essay. You’ll save time and know exactly what to write about if you have an outlined plan. Your paper will flow better and surely, you will score higher on the GRE Analytical Writing section.
8. GRE Practice Tests:
A GRE practice test is one of your most useful tools during GRE test prep. It’s an excellent indicator of what you need to work on. Take GRE practice tests every couple of weeks to find out your weak areas, and focus your GRE study plan on those things. Also, remember to learn from your mistakes on each practice test.
9. Do Not Procrastinate:
Start preparing for the GRE now. If you start GRE prep early enough, you’ll have the luxury of being able to study just an hour or so per day. When your time is limited, you have to study more hours per day, which will get tiring fast. Cramming for the GRE doesn’t work, so don’t procrastinate. I repeat, if you want to improve your GRE score, do not procrastinate.
10. Mentally Prepare:
Time yourself during GRE practice tests to get a feel for the length of the test and the pace you need to be answering questions at. Act like the practice test is the real GRE. The last thing you want on test day is to feel tired when you’re only half-way through.
If you follow these 10 steps, your GRE score will improve. If you don’t follow these 10 steps, you still might score high on the GRE, but I wouldn’t risk it. Happy preparing.

To be honest, I have no idea as to how much these pointers are worth!! Some of them like the one for quant seems to be unjustifiablly extreme! However these have been sourced from http://studybeans.com/. Please refer to the site for more information!!!!

GRE Analytical Section!!

Sorry everybody for being so pressing with the AWA section!!! I just wanted to make sure that whatever I present here exactly mirrors the reality. I recently realised that I was completely ignorant all this time. I never knew of an e-rater being used for the evaluation (I used to think e-rater was a part of GMAT essay evaluation process) However, it seems that as far as GRE goes, your essays will be graded by both e-rater and a human grader. For those who don’t exactly know of the e-rater concept, it is a computer program, designed to evaluate your writing according to the pre-programmed criteria. If the computer and human grader differ greatly in their assessments, a second human is brought into the mix to referee and make the final call. The final step is to average all four scores (two for each essay and round the result to the nearest half point. This becomes the AWA score included on the score report sent to the programs you applied for. That means the admissions office or/and professors may see your original input before they make admissions decision. So a good or bad essay can literally make or break your chances of admission to a graduate school of your choice.
What is a good essay? A good essay will be persuasive in content, well organized in structure, and clear in English language with, if any, very few grammar errors.
General StrategyThe E-rater’s main impact is to put more value on highly structured writing and the use of keywords and phrases that it recognizes. If you do not write your essay in the proper format for the E-rater it could lead to a lower score. So, be careful with the following Do’s and Don’ts.

Do’s

• Clearly show your essay organization by using transitional words or phrases, such as “first”, “finally”, “therefore”, etc to make your essay highly structured.
• Carefully read tens of sample responses to Real Essays to get informed how an E-rater-friendly essay can be. Use good books like the arco book!
• Respond to at as many essays as you can in limited 30 minutes. Make sure you are able to cover every necessary paragraph on the test day.

Don’t

• Write an essay like a prose or story. The E-rater simply doesn’t like this. Rather, your essay should be logically clear, and succinct in content, more like a summary of strategy report from McKinsey.
• Never type “threefore” for “therefore”. If you do that, the e-rater will assume there is no such word. (this is very new to me!! there are many such simple goof up’s which we might end up doing……so i guess one should be as careful as possible)
• You can’t prepare for each and every essay in detail. Though you can get a complete list of official essay topics from the links provided by me (right hand side link bar) or from the official ETS website, it is prudent to follow a logical and systematic preparation methodology instead of going on a maddening rampage of sorts to finish the topics!!!

Well friends……if you have any new information as far as AWA goes, please chip in and let me know….I must confess that even though I got a very good score, this one section is proving to be ellusive as far as my understanding goes!!!!!

source: http://www.greexplorer.com/

AWA again!!!!

Well friends!!! As I had mentioned in an earlier post about the recent developments which have forced me to look into the GRE – AWA score and its importance…thing have been very hazy to say the least! Each and every person whom I have asked for a response (thinking they are in a good position to judge considering their good admits and PhD candidacy!), has given me different answers!! I guess that this one factor forced me to just dive into http://www.ets.org/ and try and search for an answer!! I was certain that it was not the best place for a solution to this particular question (considering the notoriety of ETS with regards to administering tests of absolutely no justifiable use!!!!), I stumbled upon a few graphs which I have decided to post here! The graphs are pretty self explanatory and were included in the official guide which ETS sends to the individual universities (With a title being “how to interpret GRE AWA scores”, I am sure every prospective committee member also gets to study these graphs!!!!)

I would request every prospective grad student to go through this document! Though I must confess the second part is too damn boring to make up a decent reading….but then…since when has ETS been famous for crafting great readables!!!!

Source : http://www.ets.org/

Link to the original document: http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/987217.pdf

Interpretation of scores!

The importance of AWA scores is a perennial question. Trying to find an adequate answer has been an exercise in futility for me! Different people provide me with different variants of their own perspectives……some say that it is not important at all, some believe it has some limited importance as far as admission requirements go while others say that a low score will straight away make your case a goner!!! however, I decided that its best that you decide for yourselves……..i am providing a link which would take you directly to an acrobat file named: “guide to use of scores”. I would urge all prospective GRE test takers to definitely visit the site and go through this document!!!

name : 994994.pdf

size 4.063 MB

(using rapidshare now as filefactory was giving major issues!) 

DOWNLOAD

Additionally, I read the following on the Peterson’s webpage:

Each graduate department will determine for itself how much weight to place on Analytical Writing scores relative to scores for the multiple-choice sections, as well as to other admission criteria (GRE subject-test scores, GPA, personal statements, recommendation letters, work and other experience, etc.). An admissions committee might use Analytical Writing scores as a preliminary screen for all applicants; more likely , however, a committee will use Analytical Writing scores to decide among similarly qualified candidates. Contact the individual academic departments for their particular policies.

GRE Analytical Writing

Well friends I think AWA is an area where most of us loose out! Probably because we never treat it with the same respect that we show towards other sections (mostly verbal i guess) of Graduate Record Examination.
I was fortunate enough to get a good score in AWA. Thanks to the solemn urgings of one of my very good friends already in USA pursuing his graduate studies, I bought a book for AWA (ARCO answers to real essay questions…I guess everybody knows about it) and did some serious reading (not much actually…..probably 6-7 hours in totality). I can assure you that there can be no better morale booster for AWA than this book.
I have finally realized the important factors that spell success in AWA

· Good typing speed (well there can never be a substitute to this. I was able to finish my essays well in advance…..issue-15 minutes and argument-10 minutes in advance) and that gave me a lot of time to fine tune and edit my essays….which I can assure you proved to be very valuable (I had to make at least 15 corrections, and none of them were grammatical)
· Command over written English, specially grammar and expression.
· Reading lots of essays from ARCO or other similar preparatory material. If possible, just to boost up the confidence levels, try to pen down as many essay solutions as possible……if not complete then at least by listing the main points framing the answer
· Making full use of the scratch paper provided….after all we paid for it!!!
· Last but probably the most important; Composure and Fortitude
However for people who face the uphill task of improving their English after their high school just to be able to tackle GRE and its associated minutiae in the first place, I have the following suggestions
· Use your high school grammar books and streamline your grammar as soon as possible (1st or 2nd year of college)
· Start improving upon your vocabulary simultaneously (One can use books like Norman Lewis or even read novels of their taste)
· Buy a good dictionary as soon as possible; preferably Oxford or Websters

PS: I never did any of this myself but hope it is helpful for others as I have personally seen many follow the same regime and get awesome results.