Starscream

Practicing 12-14 hours a day is very much possible (if you don't have a job or similar occupation), albeit very difficult. I did it for three days straight (scheduled the GRE on a Monday, had the whole weekend plus took Friday off from work). If OP is already getting > 165 scores (both sections) on most practice tests, then she probably doesn't need to work so hard. I certainly saw an improvement in my preparation. I was getting around 150-155 (verbal) a week before the exam. My official score was 164. Any possible burnout can be cured by taking a day's rest in between. Also in my case, learning new words and revising them was part of the practice (about 6-7 hours a day). As you can see, it helped me greatly. To be fair, even around 6 hours of solid, concentrated practice should do you good, but there is always room for practice as long as you don't run out of prep. material (unlikely to happen). If you don't feel you'll get a great AW score (>5), and you really think you need one, have a look at the sample responses to prompts provided by ETS, Kaplan and so forth. Try your hand at some of the topics already disclosed by ETS. See if you are able to write top quality essays within the given time limit. As for you claim about vocabulary, here is what the Princeton Review has to say: "As much as the ETS would like to claim that the new GRE doesn't rely as much on the vocabulary as the old one did, the simple fact remains that many of the questions, answer choices, and reading passages contain some difficult vocabulary. You can't improve your score substantially without increasing your vocabulary." (Cracking the New GRE, 2012 Edition, page 140, first few lines) Its easy to see why. Of some 20 questions on a single section, only 5-6 are from reading comprehension, all other types of questions will test your vocab. in some way. Almost every practice test I encountered was structured in the same way, as was the actual exam.

Practice as much as possible. I am talking 12-14 hours a day or more. Full tests are better, If you don't feel like doing them then practice with 20 or more questions of any single type in one go. Your scores on the practice tests would be a very good estimate of the actual exam scores. And needless to say, if you want to get as close to perfect as possible on any one section (quantitative, verbal, AW, depends on your program), you should practice more for those section(s). In the case of verbal, I can say with confidence (and experience) that the depth of your vocabulary will be the single most important factor in deciding the overall score.

Why? Isn't BME supposed to be a hot area in both academia AND industry?

How did you know that you got two questions (and which ones?) wrong?

I know a person who got a total of 339. Got into NUS with funding, then didn't join and is now doing masters from a local university in Pakistan. Yes, my verbal score did amaze even me, as I kept getting 150-155 on most tests just 10 days before exam. My advice to anyone who is interested: Increase your vocab. I did only WordSmart I and II (roughly 1600 words) and it really helped. As for the quantitative, I never got lower than 166 on any practise test, and got 170 on about 4 or 5, so I would say that I am satisfied, not complaining, but definitely could have done better.

Thanks for the encouragement. Much appreciated. May your words prove to be auspicious (learnt this word from Word Smart, hope I used it right ). Just got ETS' reply. They said the same thing you said.

Took the test yesterday. Unofficial V = 164, Q = 166. Essays cannot get more than a 4 IMHO (were similar in length and quality to the '4' category sample essays provided by ETS). Main question(s): When I log in to my GRE account on ETS' site, in the scores column it says "Absent or unavailable". Also I specified 4 colleges to send scores to. None of them is mentioned in my account details. Should I be concerned (about my test becoming invalid through some twist of fate)? Also, I haven't received a registration number. Should I wait for the paper reports for it? Have dropped ETS a mail regarding all this. They haven't replied yet. By the way, I am satisfied with and grateful for my scores. Just want to ask if a 170 or 169 Q score weighs a whole lot more than a 166 for Engineering programs. Thanks for reading.

^Lol. Mine was taken with a webcam with bad lighting. Looked horrible.

Yeah I also had similar experience.

I don't think this answers the OP's question. What he wants to know, like me, is what happens when you send the scores to schools where you have not even made an online account and have not even started the formal application process. Will the schools still receive the scores or will they discard them? What is the correct/preferred method to report the scores for both GRE and TOEFL?

Thanks all for their valuable suggestions. They are much appreciated. No, I haven't taken the GRE. I plan to take it in early October. I have been practicing and tend to get 165 above on the practice exams (quantitative) and around 155-160 on the verbal ones. The quantitative ones on the GRE Premier CD by Kaplan seem to be much easier compared to those on the PowerPrep II software. But there only two tests (a total of four sections of each type) in the PowerPrep package. Can anyone suggest any good exercise material (preferably free), especially for the verbal and for the writing ability sections?

I just found an excellent collection of faculty conducting FPGA research at ECE U Toronto. Can anyone suggest some other schools which have at least 3-4 people conducting good research in FPGAs?

Hi! I have been hearing things like "its too late to apply for Fall 2013 at US grad schools" from people around me. I have been checking the deadlines and while its true that certain unis' deadline for graduate school admission (Engineering) has passed, for most other it seems to fall around late November and early December. I plan to apply to 4 to 5 programmes. My preparations and question so far: Have not written an SOP for any program (but I do have a very clear idea of what I want to do). Does writing an SOP require such a long time? Have not taken TOEFL, but I am fluent in English and do not intend to put much effort in preparation for TOEFL (I hear you only need to clear a very achievable threshold for iBT). One of my co-authored papers was sent to a top IEEE journal two months ago. I haven't received any updates regarding it. If its status changes to "under review" at the time of applications, how should I go about mentioning in my application? Are students who submit their applications first at an advantage compared to those who submit late (but before the deadline)? The purpose of my post is to ask if I am too late in my preparation to put forward a decent application for next fall, and to ask what part(s) of the application process tend to be the most time-confusing and (or) effort-demanding? Thank you for your time.

I must be really bad at navigating my way around a website. Please tell me where can I read the profiles of the people on the EE PhD thread?

Its August now So basically, there is a chance that she might not want to talk to me after all, if she doesn't respond to my follow up? On a slightly different note, I will be applying for MS leading to PhD. What are the chances of an international student with decent GPA (> 3.5 out of 4), great GRE scores, LORs, one journal publication and two years of industry experience (in a field that is very closely related to the appraoched professor's research interests), being accepted for a GRA after holding meeting(s) over phone with some professor at a good college? Is this is a good approach for securing a GRA? are there any others I should consider? Please share your opinions.