I took the GRE again in November 2007, and although I read a couple of books and solved quite a few papers from Princeton Review's and Kaplan's guides, I was actually fairly unprepared for the questions I encountered on the test. The Verbal section was a breeze for me, because I have been reading a lot of late, but the Quantitative section was much harder than I imagined. I scored a 770/800 in November 2007. In March 2001 I scored a perfect 800/800. So what can you learn from my experience?
1) The importance of closure
I made one big mistake on my second attempt though. I didn't answer the last question on one of my quantitative sections. This I've read in many places is a bad thing and can affect your score adversely. Even getting some of the last questions wrong has a lower impact, than not writing an answer. So be sure to fill in some random answers if you are running out of time.
2) Improbable Probability Theory and Statistics
I was also quizzed quite a bit on probability theory. The questions in the study guides hardly ever tested that aspect of Math. I did well because thankfully I could remember some things I learnt in high-school. But it was challenging for me because I have been out of school for quite a few years now. 4 years at the very least. So word of advice, make sure you know the definitions of mode, median, mean, standard deviation, and can find the values of these based on a given distribution. I was repeatedly asked questions based on these concepts. Also remind yourself of the rules for calculating probability of events P(A|B) and P(A intersection B) = P(A)P(B) when they are statistically independent.
3) Make Descartes proud : Remember 2D Cartesian Geometry?
Remember the equations for a line you were taught in high school? Well you better if you want to do well on the GRE. y =ax + b. How do you figure out the slope? How do you figure out the X-intercept, Y-intercept? Make sure you remember all this. How about the equation of a parabola? If you have been out of school for some time, you really need to revise these things. Equation for a circle and other second-order curves. How long has it been since you solved a quadratic equation? x=(-b±sqrt(b²-4ac))/2a
Suffice to say the quantitative section has become a lot harder than it used to be. If you recently took the GRE and found some questions unusual, do post them in the comments section.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Pay for your Education: Funding Tips
For most of us going unfunded to grad school is not an option. The costs of every semester are prohibitively high at many universities. So here are some tips to improve your chances of getting funding.
1) Take the TSE - Test of Spoken English
At UW to be eligible for a TA position you need a TSE score or the score from a SPEAK test taken on campus. The SPEAK test is free after you get there, but the TA application deadline for ECE is the day you file your application. So if you do take the TSE early on, it could help in getting a TA position. There are many more complications to it... if the department doesn't have a lot of funding for PhD students, they will only give TAs to the PhD students. The few remaining positions may go to seniors who have been teaching for a year or so. Some people I knew though got TA positions with the Math department and the Physics department, after getting to the US. But these are options after you have been admitted, and in the case of other departments after you arrive on campus. The TSE does help though.
2) Job Center Website
This is also probably an option only after you reach the US, but you can apply for many of the on-campus jobs. Some of them are Research Assistantships and Project Assistantships in various departments and institutes of the University. For instance for my first year I was funded by the Department of Biomedical Engineering. For a summer I was a Project Assistant at a Synchrotron Center about 5 miles from campus. In my last year at UW, I got an RA in the department itself. So luckily for me I was funded all through my MS. But the Job Center was one of the resources that helped. People also get RA positions in the library sometimes. Programming is the top skill needed all over the campus, whether for making webpages or to run experiments.
3) Professor Phone Calls
Around this time in 2002, I suddenly got a call from a Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He was a professor in the ECE Department and he asked me whether I was interested in doing a PhD. I was completely not prepared to answer the question. I really didn't expect any professor to call me. I was also a little too ambitious at the time, and I honestly just wanted to get an MS from Boulder and then move to a higher ranked university for a PhD. But all the same, be prepared for such phone calls. Another thing is to enter your phone numbers from India in the same way that you dial from the US. So for Pune it is something like 91-20-34545660 and not 91-020-34545660. One of my friends N just wrote a post about this on her blog, and how she might have gone to Georgia Tech had that phone call worked out for her.
4) Scholarships from India
A lot of people also apply for scholarships in India, some of them are very sizable. For instance the Lila Poonawalla foundation in Pune funds the complete graduate school education of some girls. The Tata Endowment for Higher Education of Indians also provides some interest free loans to selected students. There is a similar scheme from Mahindra and Mahindra I think. This can help cover some small expenses.
5) Internships
Another way to help pay for your education is to get an internship in the summer, or a co-op for another semester. The campus career fair is the best place to look for one, because employers are actively searching for interns too. The salaries are pretty good for most of these. I remember saving up a bunch of money after a co-op and then getting a laptop( I still use the same one),and a second-hand car.
6) Grader Positions
The last option in many cases is to grade homework for the university. If you get enough grading hours then the university waives your fees. For instance if you grade papers worth 13 hours a week, then you could get a tuition waiver. This is a riskier form of funding. I knew some seniors who would go hunting for grader positions in Physics, Maths, Chemistry and other departments in the hope of making their 13 hours a week. The payoff was an automatic saving of 12k dollars in tuition.
1) Take the TSE - Test of Spoken English
At UW to be eligible for a TA position you need a TSE score or the score from a SPEAK test taken on campus. The SPEAK test is free after you get there, but the TA application deadline for ECE is the day you file your application. So if you do take the TSE early on, it could help in getting a TA position. There are many more complications to it... if the department doesn't have a lot of funding for PhD students, they will only give TAs to the PhD students. The few remaining positions may go to seniors who have been teaching for a year or so. Some people I knew though got TA positions with the Math department and the Physics department, after getting to the US. But these are options after you have been admitted, and in the case of other departments after you arrive on campus. The TSE does help though.
2) Job Center Website
This is also probably an option only after you reach the US, but you can apply for many of the on-campus jobs. Some of them are Research Assistantships and Project Assistantships in various departments and institutes of the University. For instance for my first year I was funded by the Department of Biomedical Engineering. For a summer I was a Project Assistant at a Synchrotron Center about 5 miles from campus. In my last year at UW, I got an RA in the department itself. So luckily for me I was funded all through my MS. But the Job Center was one of the resources that helped. People also get RA positions in the library sometimes. Programming is the top skill needed all over the campus, whether for making webpages or to run experiments.
3) Professor Phone Calls
Around this time in 2002, I suddenly got a call from a Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He was a professor in the ECE Department and he asked me whether I was interested in doing a PhD. I was completely not prepared to answer the question. I really didn't expect any professor to call me. I was also a little too ambitious at the time, and I honestly just wanted to get an MS from Boulder and then move to a higher ranked university for a PhD. But all the same, be prepared for such phone calls. Another thing is to enter your phone numbers from India in the same way that you dial from the US. So for Pune it is something like 91-20-34545660 and not 91-020-34545660. One of my friends N just wrote a post about this on her blog, and how she might have gone to Georgia Tech had that phone call worked out for her.
4) Scholarships from India
A lot of people also apply for scholarships in India, some of them are very sizable. For instance the Lila Poonawalla foundation in Pune funds the complete graduate school education of some girls. The Tata Endowment for Higher Education of Indians also provides some interest free loans to selected students. There is a similar scheme from Mahindra and Mahindra I think. This can help cover some small expenses.
5) Internships
Another way to help pay for your education is to get an internship in the summer, or a co-op for another semester. The campus career fair is the best place to look for one, because employers are actively searching for interns too. The salaries are pretty good for most of these. I remember saving up a bunch of money after a co-op and then getting a laptop( I still use the same one),and a second-hand car.
6) Grader Positions
The last option in many cases is to grade homework for the university. If you get enough grading hours then the university waives your fees. For instance if you grade papers worth 13 hours a week, then you could get a tuition waiver. This is a riskier form of funding. I knew some seniors who would go hunting for grader positions in Physics, Maths, Chemistry and other departments in the hope of making their 13 hours a week. The payoff was an automatic saving of 12k dollars in tuition.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Verbal Section: How to increase your vocabulary?
One of the biggest impediments to doing well on the GRE Verbal section for a large number of people is the size of their vocabularies (or rather the lack of it). In this post I'll be divulging some of the tricks that worked for me. I scored a 710 out of 800 on my GRE Verbal Section in 2001.
1) Spend a few months reading the Barron's Word Lists
This is what most GRE test takers try to do, albeit unsuccessfully. It is hard to remember words this way. Very soon you find yourself confusing the meanings of various words. But Barron's does serve as a good starting point.
2) Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
This is a great book for learning a wide variety of words. This book stresses on figuring out the meaning of words based on their roots. For instance: the words loquacious, elocution, both relate to speaking and both use the root loci meaning to speak. The book goes through various subjects, from personality types to doctors, and from insults to actions. This book is necessary reading for anyone serious about doing well on the GRE Verbal section.
3) Verbal Tutor
I haven't looked for Vocabulary test software lately, but I frequently used VTutor back in the day. The software throws a word at you, with the choice of 10 meanings. Training for an hour a day for a couple of months can do wonders to your GRE Verbal score.
4) Reading voraciously
Or even reading a little more voraciously than you currently do. It is a good habit, regardless of what exam you are appearing for. It makes you an interesting person, with fun facts to share, with a lot of handy information. (My wife says it also serves to impress the girls. It did work for me.:))The New York Times is my personal favorite. The Web2.0 style - Most Emailed, Most Blogged sections of the newspaper are always entertaining. Books also serve to reiterate the words that you have already learnt. Also you can read for fun and when a parent annoyingly asks you what you are up to, you can respond "Studying for my GRE Verbal!"
6) Word of the Day Email
There are a lot of services out there to help you learn a word a day. Google's custom Homepage has a "Word of the Day" widget. You can also subscribe to email lists for a word a day. Princeton Review's Word Du Jour is a good way to learn a word, while doing some casual surfing. I like this service from Wordsmith.org as well called AWAD.
7) Reader's Digest Quiz, Crosswords
I used to love solving the vocabulary quiz section of the Reader's Digest. The words are a tad harder though, so it didn't do my confidence any good. Other word games can also help.
8) Free Rice
http://www.freerice.com is a great way to learn some words, while supporting a very worthy cause. Each time you get the meaning of a word right, the site donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations for the starving people around the globe. You can keep going for as long as you wish, and usually the words get more difficult the more words you identify correctly. How do they do that you ask? Well the campaign is ad-supported. Each time you visit the page, an advertiser like Apple pays FreeRice a few cents. I find this site addictive and fun. It judges your current voacbulary level and asks you the meanings of words at the edge of your abilities, so you keep improving a little.
If you have any tips that you would like to share with others, do post them in the comments section.
Share
1) Spend a few months reading the Barron's Word Lists
This is what most GRE test takers try to do, albeit unsuccessfully. It is hard to remember words this way. Very soon you find yourself confusing the meanings of various words. But Barron's does serve as a good starting point.
2) Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
This is a great book for learning a wide variety of words. This book stresses on figuring out the meaning of words based on their roots. For instance: the words loquacious, elocution, both relate to speaking and both use the root loci meaning to speak. The book goes through various subjects, from personality types to doctors, and from insults to actions. This book is necessary reading for anyone serious about doing well on the GRE Verbal section.
3) Verbal Tutor
I haven't looked for Vocabulary test software lately, but I frequently used VTutor back in the day. The software throws a word at you, with the choice of 10 meanings. Training for an hour a day for a couple of months can do wonders to your GRE Verbal score.
4) Reading voraciously
Or even reading a little more voraciously than you currently do. It is a good habit, regardless of what exam you are appearing for. It makes you an interesting person, with fun facts to share, with a lot of handy information. (My wife says it also serves to impress the girls. It did work for me.:))The New York Times is my personal favorite. The Web2.0 style - Most Emailed, Most Blogged sections of the newspaper are always entertaining. Books also serve to reiterate the words that you have already learnt. Also you can read for fun and when a parent annoyingly asks you what you are up to, you can respond "Studying for my GRE Verbal!"
6) Word of the Day Email
There are a lot of services out there to help you learn a word a day. Google's custom Homepage has a "Word of the Day" widget. You can also subscribe to email lists for a word a day. Princeton Review's Word Du Jour is a good way to learn a word, while doing some casual surfing. I like this service from Wordsmith.org as well called AWAD.
7) Reader's Digest Quiz, Crosswords
I used to love solving the vocabulary quiz section of the Reader's Digest. The words are a tad harder though, so it didn't do my confidence any good. Other word games can also help.
8) Free Rice
http://www.freerice.com is a great way to learn some words, while supporting a very worthy cause. Each time you get the meaning of a word right, the site donates 10 grains of rice to the United Nations for the starving people around the globe. You can keep going for as long as you wish, and usually the words get more difficult the more words you identify correctly. How do they do that you ask? Well the campaign is ad-supported. Each time you visit the page, an advertiser like Apple pays FreeRice a few cents. I find this site addictive and fun. It judges your current voacbulary level and asks you the meanings of words at the edge of your abilities, so you keep improving a little.
If you have any tips that you would like to share with others, do post them in the comments section.
Share
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Writing to Professors
Writing to professors in Graduate School is something most applicants do at one point or another. Some students do that before applying to graduate school, asking professors to assess their chances of getting in. Some others write after getting admission, to secure an RA position. I personally think the way most people approach this is ineffective.
Here are some common pitfalls to avoid:
Uninteresting subject lines
Usually most people will write subject lines like "Prospective Graduate Student", "Research Assistantship".
- Most professors will probably have some filters for these, or very frequently will ignore these. Professors get a lot of spam.
- Some subject fields that might work say something about you in the field itself:
"Experienced Engineer from AMD for RA position"
- Funny subject lines could also work
"Do you need yet another Research Assistant?"
Long emails
No one has time to read long stories. Keep your content really brief. I like bullet points for this. For example:
GRE - 1470
TOEFL - 297/300
Overall GPA - 3.8/4.0
Experience -
Research Interests -
Dear Sir emails
My MS advisor frequently complained that she got a lot of email from international students who didn't even take the time to realize that she should be addressed with "Dear Madam".
So the most useful thing you can do is to read the content on a professor's webpage before writing to them. Read at least one paper or some abstracts. If you are truly interested in their work, write an email and use their name in the salutation, and something to show you know what they work on.
"Dear Professor Smith, I was really impressed with your work on branch prediction."
If you find yourself complaining about the lack of responses , you should see it from their point of view. I think if you do your homework before writing, take some interest in writing a customied email, the likelihood of getting a response is much higher. No professor will respond to questions about your chances of making it in. So ask about whether he/she is accepting students this year. If you are already studying at the university ask for course advice.
Here are some common pitfalls to avoid:
Uninteresting subject lines
Usually most people will write subject lines like "Prospective Graduate Student", "Research Assistantship".
- Most professors will probably have some filters for these, or very frequently will ignore these. Professors get a lot of spam.
- Some subject fields that might work say something about you in the field itself:
"Experienced Engineer from AMD for RA position"
- Funny subject lines could also work
"Do you need yet another Research Assistant?"
Long emails
No one has time to read long stories. Keep your content really brief. I like bullet points for this. For example:
GRE - 1470
TOEFL - 297/300
Overall GPA - 3.8/4.0
Experience -
Research Interests -
Dear Sir emails
My MS advisor frequently complained that she got a lot of email from international students who didn't even take the time to realize that she should be addressed with "Dear Madam".
So the most useful thing you can do is to read the content on a professor's webpage before writing to them. Read at least one paper or some abstracts. If you are truly interested in their work, write an email and use their name in the salutation, and something to show you know what they work on.
"Dear Professor Smith, I was really impressed with your work on branch prediction."
If you find yourself complaining about the lack of responses , you should see it from their point of view. I think if you do your homework before writing, take some interest in writing a customied email, the likelihood of getting a response is much higher. No professor will respond to questions about your chances of making it in. So ask about whether he/she is accepting students this year. If you are already studying at the university ask for course advice.
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