GRE in 2 days-Rescue

[samstrong123]

Hi All,

I have following concerns-

 

1. In this new gre format (as it used to be before) does software is responce adaptive ie if q is correct then next q is harder, & earlier qs have higher points than later qs. If so one need to solve early qs w/ more attention & can afford to not to pay much attentionto later qs

OR

every q has equal points & one should try to get every q right w/ optimum resources in terms of time ?

 

2. In Verbal section- I'm getting more questions wrong in the "Reading Comprehension" section. Do you any hints for solving this section in less time & w/ more odds to get correct- especially "inference Q"/ author  will agree w/ which of the following EXCEPT"- one not only has to read Q & passage, but anwer choices also v. carefully. take lots of time 

 

3. In AWA section-

a. In essays can I use words- "claim/ argument/ point" interchangeably or do I need to specific about what they have said & stick to it?

 

b. Similarly, can I use "memo/ publication/ letter" interchangeably or do I need to use specific one & stick to it?

 

c. For some verbs when doing past tense we change y to i . Is there any rule for it or its just random as mentioned

eg. to play- played,  to study-studied

 

d. I have noticed frequently I'm using "If......,then......." sentences in an essay to show cause & effect correlation. To avoid this repetition are there any other options to frame these type of sentences? 

 

I'm completely scared, out of breath, & trying cover the base. Who knows whats going to happen. I just don't want to get too low score.  I'm pushing for max.

 

If you have any more tips let me know.

Thanks.

Sam.

prk_01234@yahoo.com

 

[bsharpe269]

I dont know the answer your specific questions really but my advice is seriously to not stress it.

 

The first time I took the GRE a few years ago, I was stressed just like you are and messed up majorly. I took it a month later and did so much better by just calming myself down and not worrying about it. You have done all of the studying you can really at this point. My advice to get a great workout in or watch your favorite movie or do whatever you find calming and just do the best you can.

 

You can retake it as many times as you want now so there is no reason to stress... if you mess up then you can retake it next month.

[themmases]

1. Quantitative - I haven't spent a lot of time analyzing it, so I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I have heard that earlier questions in math are important because they'll determine the difficulty of questions you'll get later on (and your score does take into account the difficulty of the questions you got right/wrong).

 

Personally, time management was a big problem for me on this part of the test-- if I saw something I couldn't quite get, I'd dwell on it trying to get an answer by brute force. If this happens to you, my advice is to do as much of the problem you're confident in, eliminate all the answers you can, choose an educated guess from the remaining options, and move on so you have a chance to answer the other questions. And the single best piece of advice I got about this section was that if something looks too hard for you to do in the time limit, with only the basic GRE calculator, it probably is-- there must be a simple way.

 

2. Verbal - I got questions wrong in my practice because, according to Manhattan Prep, GRE authors aren't biased-- so an answer option that says the author strongly favors this or is trying to convince you of that can't be the right one. I disagree with them about that, but following it worked out for me on the test.

 

My approach to these was basically to read the passage, then take the answers one at a time, skimming the passage to try to disprove them. I would do this even if I was pretty sure an option was right or wrong, just because some of the answers are deliberately written confusingly or hinge on technicalities. I was always able to narrow down the options to one or two by doing this.

 

3. AWA - I got a 5.5 once and a 4.0 the next time, so I have no idea about this section! Based on others' experiences, the most effective approach seems to just be to write a 5 paragraph essay (intro, 3 supporting paragraphs with a point each, conclusion). I've heard that many admissions committees don't take it very seriously, and they will have better evidence of your writing abilities from your statement of purpose and writing sample, if applicable. Don't stress about this one.

 

3a. Write naturally, and go for a mix of quoting the source material and just referencing their point. It also can help you to reference outside material that you think is relevant, so if the topic reminds you of a quote you remember well and can attribute, definitely use it.

 

3b. The terms memo/publication/letter aren't synonymous in most contexts, so if you're not sure what else to call the source text then I'd stick to one term even at the risk of sounding repetitive. You can also use other phrases to refer to what the author wants or claims, to save you from referring to "the letter" in every sentence.

 

3c. I found a good explanation of this rule (which I definitely could not articulate myself!) here in rules 4 and 5: http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/simple_past_tense02.html However, according to ETS "Although an occasional spelling or grammatical error will not affect your score, severe and persistent errors will detract from the overall effectiveness of your writing and lower your score accordingly." Based on your post, your spelling is otherwise good, so you might want to review this but definitely don't stress out about it.

 

3d. The Purdue OWL pages have some good general advice about varying sentence structure: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/573/ However, in the interest of time management the best thing you can do is outline (just do a quick one with your thesis as the intro and a point or two per paragraph), write your essay based on the outline in the way that seems natural to you, and use your remaining time to revise and improve any style elements that jump out at you. That way you will at least have a finished, organized essay even if some sentence structures are repetitive.

 

I hope this all helps! bsharpe is correct that relaxing will also help you out a lot. Get to the neighborhood early, get coffee, read a book, and use the time waiting to be called back to your testing room to sit quietly and clear your head. Best of luck!

[samstrong123]

hi themmases & bsharpe269,

Thanks for yr valuable input.

themasses - yr quant tips is very helpful to me.

bsharpe269- i will try to keep calm

I'll keep you posted

Sam