When you prepare for any entrance exam you face the obvious confusion of how to go about it. There are so many options available now-a-days that it gets difficult to judge which one is the best. Furthermore since you are just out of school you are absolutely fresh to the idea of entrance exams and are likely to get mislead. Therefore it is very important for you to make a thorough research and judge which GRE preparation medium is best for you.

Before you go material hunting, it is required that you have complete information about the test itself: if you don�t know what you have to prepare for, you shall not be able to judge a good source from a bad one! Log on to the official website www.ets.org and read all that is mentioned about the exam pattern and syllabus. It is advisable here to download the free copy of PowerPrep, a software which has instructions and practice tests. This software is available on the ETS website and it will give you a fair idea of what the test is like. Depending on that you can choose your source of study.

The traditional source of preparation is the GRE books. Well established publishers print some very good GRE books which have shown praiseworthy results. But the number of such GRE books can not be counted on fingertips. There will be a wide variety from which you have to make your choice. For this you must know what qualifies for a good GRE book. A good GRE book will be the one which covers all the required topics of English language, grammar and vocabulary, concepts of arithmetic, algebra and geometry and Analytical writing skills in detail. Check the table of contents of the book to make sure that all the topics are discussed in the book separately. Each of these should be explained in detail, merely stating the facts would not serve the purpose since you are likely to have been out of touch with the basics of English and math for a long time. While scanning a GRE book browse through some topics and see if they are explained in detail. You will get a better idea if you read through some topics which are not so important. If those are explained well then the important ones will surely be so as well. Look for topics that are not mentioned in other GRE books so you get a better idea of what the GRE book is worth. At the same time you must look for topics which you are not good at. Since you are buying a GRE book for your own use you must see that it is best suited to your needs and teaches you what you don�t know. Also you must keep in mind the language and style of writing in the GRE book. Use of difficult words and confusing statements serve no purpose, you shall spend most of your time looking for the meanings in the dictionary this way. The language should be simple and unambiguous.

The next point of consideration is the practice questions. There should be practice questions for each topic, and not a just few for the heck of it but plenty for proper practice. There should be practice questions pertaining to each topic separately as well as to all the topics collectively. In fact if questions are mentioned separately according to the three levels of difficulty, then it is a great help for practicing. You can start with the easy questions of the GRE book and then advance to the more difficult ones. When you go from easy to difficult gradually your clarity of concepts increases and so does your confidence. This makes your preparation systematic and your confidence is not shattered by repeatedly getting wrong answers. Now merely solving the questions is pointless if you don�t know whether the answers are correct or not. Though trivial, you must check that the answer keys to the questions are there, even the practice questions. Many a times there are misprints and some answers keys are missing in GRE books.

• No Related Post

GRE Test is administered throughout the year. There is no specific GRE test dates. A test taker can choose his GRE test dates and time in a nearby centre.

The GRE test is conducted in almost all major cities around the globe from monday to friday two times a day which makes specific gre test dates unnecessary.

The probem associated with GRE test dates is that during september to december most of the test takers tend to give their GRE test and most of the test takers will choose a day between september and december as their GRE test dates. The GRE test dates between sep and dec will fill up very quickly.

So if you desire your GRE exam dates to be between sepember and december you got to register very early. Mostly students will fail to get a gre exam dates in this period in their desired testing center. many test takers will be forced to choose a test centre far away from their location to get a desired GRE exam dates.

To fix a GRE test date one has to contact

Computer-Based Testing Program

Educational Testing Service

P.O. Box 6020

Princeton, NJ 08541-6020

Or calling: 1-800-GRE-CALL

2007 GRE Test Dates

Since there is a change in gre format from september 2007. The 2007 gre test dates after september will be different from the current one. Currently the gre test can be taken on any day of the year in other words any day can be a gre test dates but from sep 2007 there will be 30 fixed gre test dates per year.

Students registering for the new GRE test will have to choose a GRE exam dates from a given set of gre exam dates given by ets.

The new gre testing dates are not yet announced yet. The new gre exam dates is expected to be announced before the commencing of the new gre test in 2007 september.

• No Related Post

GRE Testing centers are available in almost every place in the world. The candidate aspiring to Take GRE can contact the appropriate GRE testing center register for GRE Test and take GRE Test in the appropriate GRE Test center of his choice.

The Graduate Record Examination Board, a non-profit association of graduate business schools, directs the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to administer the GRE test.

The questions are set and overseen by the ETS. The GRE score is sent to the candidate directly by the GRE.

GRE Test center

The GRE test is administered world wide through the GRE test center recognized by the ETS.

For instance the Indian agency is known by the name of the Sylvan Testing Services Pvt Ltd. The Sylvan Testing Services Pvt Ltd is a franchise of the ETS which conducts the GRE test through its 9 GRE Testing centers distributed through out the country. These GRE Testing centers are located in Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Trivandrum.

Find GRE Test Center

Follow the below link to get the List of GRE Testing centers from the ETS official web site for GRE. Here you can search the available GRE Test center in your County, City, State or Town.

http://etsis4.ets.org/center/cbt_dm.cfm

GRE Testing Center availability

Register for GRE as soon as possible because always popular or desired GRE Testing centers fill up very quickly. By delayed GRE Test registration you may end up in taking GRE at a distant, non desiring GRE Test center.

• No Related Post

There is no restriction on students wishing to take the GRE test. There is no constrain based on qualification or age levied on the student. Though the GRE test scores has a validity of five years and are acceptable by most of the universities, it is recommended that the student submit scores that are not older than 2 years to make a better impression on the universities.

The GRE fees for the GRE test differs from country to country.

The GRE Test fee cannot be paid in any other currency other than US dollars. Several payment options for paying GRE Fees are available

GRE Test Fees – Payment Modes

The GRE Test fees can be paid in many modes. Below is the given list of valid payment mode for GRE Fees

• globally accepted credit card
• US dollar denominated draft
• Money Order/Certified Check
• U.S. Postal Money Order
• International Money Order
• UNESCO Coupons

There is no compulsion that the credit card should be owned by the applicant for paying the GRE Fees.

The draft should be drawn in favor of �ETS � GRE� payable at US banks. The drafts are usually issued at most of the cities’ main branch offices of banks having a foreign exchange counter.

To draw an US dollar denominated draft in India a service charge of about 200 rupees is levied on the student.

GRE Test Fees – By Country

Generally to register for the GRE test within US and U.S. territories and Puerto Rico amounts to 115 dollars for General test and 130 dollars for Subject test.

The registration fee of 140 dollars for General test and 150 dollars for Subject test which amounts to about 7000 rupees has to be paid by the Indian student who wishes to take the test. Students from China, inclusive of Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan, need to pay 175 U.S. dollars as GRE registration fee.

The student who wish to reschedule their GRE test is required to pay a 40 dollar reschedule fee. Any additional score report would require 15 dollars as payment for per sheet. The refund on cancellation would amount to 60 dollars and is valid only if the cancellation is made at least 7 days before the chosen test date. The standby fee on registration of GRE is 35 US dollars.

GRE Fee Waiver

GRE Fee waivers are available for students based on their financial needs. GRE Fee waivers are available for both GRE General Test and GRE Subject Test.

Students who intend to get a GRE Fee waiver must contact Central Financial Aid at 757-226-4125.

There are eligibility conditions for the GRE Fee waiver. Contact Central Financial Aid for more information on eligibility conditions for GRE Fee Waiver

• No Related Post

took gre general test 3 days back.

My gre score is 1560. I am happy that this is a good GRE score.

Split up Verbal Section GRE Score- 760
Quans Section GRE Score – 800
Expecting 5.5 or 6.0 in my essays.

This is my second attempt. Mine was a average gre score in my first attempt. In my first attempt my gre scores was 1210. Q – 720 V – 490. I was completely demotivated after seeing my average gre scores. I am working as a Senior System Analyst in Bangalore. I have 6 Yrs of experience. I’m an electronics and communication engg. I always wanted to pursue MS in a top school.

GRE tests three things:

1. Your basic intelligence (in Quanti and Reading Comprehension)

2. Your speed of responding (that’s why the time limit is kept…and so, many of you who are practicing for the GRE must be finding difficult)

3. How well you perform under pressure? And also I used Barrons and Kaplan tests and bigbook. All these material are no longer useful as ets had tremendously increased the difficulty level of questions especially the quans and the reading comprehension questions.

If you are pretty clear in the above things then a good GRE score is not that difficult.

First and foremost suggestion – Don’t get tensed up. Remain cool and calm. Sometimes the only difference between a good score and a bad score is your mental strength. Just chill. No worries, no tension. Talk to yourself. Tell yourself that you can do it. If you win over your tension, then GRE is a piece of cake leading to a good GRE score.

Second thing – practice is the key to success. Give as many practice tests as possible. Grebible and Powerprep are a must. You can also try out Arco.

Practice tests and the CAT tests in grebible are excellent. The difficulty level is very very high in grebible. That’s the reason why I was able to score much in the verbal and in the quans.

If you go without giving practice tests, that too practice tests with difficulty high level of questions. Your chances of good GRE Scores are negligible. You will end up with a average GRE score

The main advantage for me was that I got 4 analogies and 2 sentence completion questions straight from grebible practice tests. These questions were within my fist 10 questions. That boosted my gre score. Thank god else I would have been sitting with computers and doing silly things in my office.

Softwares used:

• Powerprep
• Grebible
• Barrons
• Arco

PowerPrep gives you the exact GRE Score which you will be your GRE Score plus or minus 10 – 20. Your Gre scores from power prep will be an exact replica of your actual GRE score.

I had no time to study for gre as my work is very hard. I used to come home only at 11 or 12 or even 2 in the night. But it was a passion for me to study MS. Initially it was very tough for me to find time for me to prepare for gre. I prepared very slowly for gre. Started with Barron’s wordlist. After completing them when I took a diagnostic test, I was shocked at the results. Then one of my friend suggested Gre Vocabulary Bible from grebible. The software was cool.

Some General Tips:

1. Complete the math review in barron’s with the exercises and also the one given by ETS (ftp://ftp.ets.org/pub/gre/Math2.pdf)

2. Do math exercises in grebible. I found grebible math to be toughest of all.

3. On the day of test, free yourself from driving to the test center.

Take an auto or better still ask someone to drop you.

My GRE scores on practice tests in the order I took, if it helps anyone:

PowerPrep1 GRE Score – Q – 740, V – 680
Princeton 1 GRE Score – Q – 780, V – 460
GreBible1 GRE Score – Q – 710, V-600
Princeton 2 GRE Score – Q – 770,
GreBible2 GRE Score – Q – 620, V-580
GreBible3 GRE Score – Q – 740, V-580
GreBible4 GRE Score – Q – 710, V-630
GreBible5 GRE Score – Q – 770, V-700
GreBible6 GRE Score – Q – 800, V-610
GreBible7 GRE Score – Q – 800, V-660
GreBible8 GRE Score – Q – 740, V-700
GreBible9 GRE Score – Q – 770, V-680
GreBible10 GRE Score – Q – 740, V-720
PowerPrep2 GRE Score – Q – 740, V – 680

As you guys can clearly see. Powerprep GRE score exactly reflects the actual gre scores

Links :

www.grebible.com (Excellent Software. Saved me, After my initial poor first attempt. Changed my poor gre score to an excellent GRE score)
www.testmagic.com (Excellent Site)
www.syvum.com (Lot of practice tests)
www.gre.org (Complete their practice Questions first)

Thanks guru for sharing his experience.
If you would like to contact , you can email him: gurumoorthy_swaminathan at yahoo dot com.

• No Related Post

The application procedure to be followed when applying to Universities in the US involves a number of steps. Listed below are some of the most important things you need to be aware of when applying for University study.

1. Passport : A valid passport serves as a primary means of identification to gain admission to your test centre. If you don’t have a passport then apply for one as soon as possible, as you cannot appear for the GRE without it.

2. GRE Registration : Register for the GRE at least three months in advance to be assured of obtaining your preferred testing date.

3. TOEFL Registration : International students who haven’t studied in a country where English is the primary language, have to appear for the Test Of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in addition to the GRE. Find out about the TOEFL by visiting www.toefl.org.

4. Preparation : Preparation for the GRE should begin at least six months before you plan to appear for the exam. Check out what study material is available to help you prepare for the GRE by visiting the Books & Software section.

5. GRE : You are expected to arrive at your test centre at least 30 minutes before the scheduled start of your exam. You are expected to bring the following items with you to the test centre :

• Acceptable Identification (Passport + Driving License/College Id Card)
• Names of 4 Colleges to which you want ETS to send your scores

At the end of your test, you can specify up to 4 colleges to which ETS will send your scores for free. Therefore, before appearing for the exam, prepare a list of your first choice colleges, by anticipating the range of your likely GRE score. ETS charges $13 for every additional college you send your scores to.

6. Choosing Colleges : When preparing a list of colleges to apply to, take into consideration the following factors :

• Your Academic grades
• Your GRE score
• Reputation of College
• College’s minimum requirements
• College fees
• Availability of Financial aid
• Location of college (e.g. East coast or West coast)

Choose about 3 to 4 ‘dream’ colleges, 3 to 4 ‘average’ colleges and another 3 to 4 ‘safe’ colleges. Go through the college websites for information regarding each univ – Colleges

7. Pre-Application : Pre-application involves emailing the colleges of your choice, requesting them to send you the application forms by mail. Mention the following in your pre-application letters :

• Your name & address
• Degree sought
• Undergraduate Academic grades
• GRE & TOEFL scores
• Any additional qualifications that you may have

Many colleges often inform you there and then about your chances of gaining admission into their college. By doing this you can often save the cost of the application fee by knowing before hand which colleges are likely to accept you or not.

8. Transcripts : Request your college to provide you with transcripts of marks obtained for all four years of your undergrad study completed. Make sure that all the copies of your transcripts are attested and certified as true copies of the original.

9. Financial Documentation : Along with your application, it is required that you attach a letter from your bank indicating sufficient funds to finance your education in the US. It is recommended that your bank certificate show proof of funds amounting to approximately $30,000. – Sample Bank Certificate

10. Recommendation Letters : Try to get about 3 recommendation letters from professors at your undergraduate university who are familiar with your course work. Learn how to write a good recommendation letter by following the tips given here – Recommendation Letters

Your statement of purpose should include the following points :

• Reason for pursuing higher studies.
• Research and academic interests
• Goal in life
• Personal strengths and weaknesses
• Academic and other achievements
• Related experience / projects undertaken
• Reasons for applying to a particular university

Spend as much time as possible over your statement of purpose because it is the only means that you have to actually ‘speak’ to the college authorities, in order to convince them that you really deserve to be admitted to their University. Refer to the Personal Satement section for detailed information.

12. Application : Send your applications to colleges at least six months before you hope to begin your study there. Based on personal experience, I can assure you that the earlier you send your applications, the better your chances are of gaining admission into universities. Also, the earlier you apply, the sooner you get your replies, and so you have more time to decide which college to finally go to. – Sample Application Package

13. Visa : If you are an international student, you have to apply for a student VISA to the US. At the time of applying for a VISA, you have to have to prove to the VISA officer that you have sufficient funds to support your study in the U.S., as well as enough reasons for returning to your home country after completion of your education. Find out more about the visa procedure at Visa Information

14. Final Preparation : Contact students who are currently studying at the University you are going to, for information regarding what to expect once you get there.

• GRE Study
• Courses offered & Eligibility Panjab University MCA

Graduate Record Exam is an exam which prospective undergraduates take in order to take admission in a graduation course. When you pass out of a school and seek admission in a college or university you will be expected to have taken the GRE. This exam is a part of the admission criteria of colleges. Your school results are not sufficient for admission in a college. College admission authorities intend to take in the best students so that they produce good results. GRE acts as a source of certifying the caliber of students at the same standard level.

GRE tests the candidates for their proficiency in English, their ability of quantitative reasoning and their analytical writing skills. This it does through three sections of the test; Verbal Section, Quantitative Reasoning Section and Analytical Writing Section. Each of these sections has a fixed format and fixed types of questions. These questions are not of the ordinary type and level which you have done during your schooling. They are tricky and require practice and study. Hence in order to score well you will have to take up GRE study seriously and work hard. After all, it is not just the passing that counts here but a good score as well. It is finally the merit that the colleges will consider for admitting students.

The first step towards GRE study is planning. You have to start well in advance about when and how you are going to start preparing for the exam. Gain as much knowledge about the test as you can through friends, books, teachers, internet, official websites, blogs etc. After you are well aware of what the test requirements are choose the best medium for GRE study according to your capabilities and shortcomings. For each section of GRE you will have to practice. There is no portion of the test which you can attempt without studying specifically for it.

For the verbal section you need to concentrate on the vocabulary and English grammar. For improving your vocabulary it is best to get a list of words. This list you can download from some websites, or consult a book or prepare one yourself. The easiest way is to get a readymade wordlist but it is ideal to prepare one yourself. You can start a year in advance and start writing difficult words which you come across in newspapers, magazines, textbooks etc. compile them and start learning a few everyday. You must also know the usage of each word and for this you can refer to examples or form some on your own. The verbal section also has questions on antonyms and so you must also learn the opposites of the words you list. The knowledge of English grammar is equally important in this section. You will be asked to complete sentences with words given in five options. You have to fill in the blanks with those words which complete the sentence both logically and grammatically. For this you can go back to basics of grammar which you were taught in school. Take up a good book for grammar and revise your concepts. This revision should be done before you start with any written practice so that you can fix the concepts of grammar. English grammar, though complex, is brief. You need knowledge of applied grammar instead of just remembering the rules. Thus it becomes important that whatever you study, you practice as well for it. This section also has reading comprehension questions. You can practice these from any grammar book, or other books especially for the purpose of GRE study. Practice of comprehension will help you learn how to speed up and save time in the real exam.

• Gre Guide
• Courses offered & Eligibility Panjab University MCA