killerbees

My own experience: I scored in the 99th percentile for the verbal section of the GRE. To prepare for the GRE, I took a live Kaplan course. I think we met two nights a week for a couple of hours. I was pleasantly surprised by my score. I think I got a 630 or something on the practice test I took the first night of class. My actual verbal score when I took the GRE was one hundred points higher. My strategy was not all that complicated: I did the homework and showed up for all the classes. I sat down with the flashcards and went through them, one by one, making two piles, words I knew and words I didn't know. I didn't worry about the words I knew. For the words I didn't know, I wrote out the definitions and then wrote sentences using those words. I enjoy writing creatively, and I made this process highly enjoyable and entertaining by writing bizarre and often perverse sentences. During the class, you also learn a lot of tips for dealing with words you don't know on test day, and tips for dealing with the reading comprehension sections. That was where I had most of my trouble. If reading and writing etc. aren't your strong suits, it may not be possible to really improve those skills in time for the test. What you can do, however, is improve your ability to take the test. Strategy is important. (It saved my a$$ on the math section.) That, coupled with any kind of improvement in your verbal skills, should really help. As others have already noted, read. Read good books by good authors, and keep a notebook handy for jotting down words you don't know so that you can look them up later.

I woke myself up screaming in my sleep sometime back before Christmas. Things were getting a little tense there for a while. I do exercise regularly, however, and I think this has saved not only my sanity but my waistline. It also gets me out of the house and away from my computer and the obsessive email, etc., checking that I do. I also had a few fits of inspiration while working out and wrote down some notes or worked out how to do a personal statement.

Thanks, all. My language of choice is Thai, as Thailand is where I was for four years. I used to speak Spanish quite well but those days are long gone. I was actually trying to decide whether I should stick with Thai or go back to Spanish. I think at this point I should stick with Thai as it's the most recent language I've done. I can read and write but I don't think I can do scholarly works.

Hi, This is my first post. Place seems like a great resource. I wish I'd found it before I submitted all my applications. I have a question about language proficiency. Almost all of the programs to which I applied require something along the lines of "proficiency in a modern foreign language." Beyond that, it gets a bit vague. I'm applying to two-year Master's in IR-type programs, some theory and some area studies, to give you an idea of what they may be looking for as far as languages. For schools, let's say Georgetown, SAIS, AU-SIS, and GW. Most likely, I will be required to pass a test proving proficiency in a foreign language at some point during my two years in grad school. I lived overseas for the past four years and I studied the language of the host country while I was there. I'm having a hard time assessing my language skills however, partly because I'm not sure exactly what these schools consider proficient. Do they want me to be able to go to the market and converse with the fishmonger? Or do they want me to be able to discuss the underlying reason for the current political unrest? Etc. I'd imagine it's more of the latter but I could be wrong. I need to make a decision soon about signing up for additional language classes to make sure that I am indeed proficient. Does anybody have a clue as to what the subject matter is on the sort of language tests given by any of the above schools? Cheers. Also, my apologies if this subject has been broached previously. I did a search but didn't find anything. And if it's in the wrong place, my apologies again.