Please Help!!!

[CalmLogic]

I'm not sure, but this may provide some info:

http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/m...22f951 90RCRD

[wictor]

although switching career 4rm one stream to another is often risky but if u have passion + dedication 4r computer science then u will excel.
start grabbin basic concepts of computer programming and computer organisation.
start 4rm>>HOW COMPUTER WORKS and C++ Programming by Robert Lofor...
rest u can progressssssss

[deepuj]

Originally Posted by wictor

although switching career 4rm one stream to another is often risky but if u have passion + dedication 4r computer science then u will excel.
start grabbin basic concepts of computer programming and computer organisation.
start 4rm>>HOW COMPUTER WORKS and C++ Programming by Robert Lofor...
rest u can progressssssss

Thanks wictor, thanks for thy response, lookin fwd to suggestions n tips in future also..

[deepuj]

Hi, i am a non-cs guy, preparing for CS GRE ,can anyone suggest me a detailed syllabus which i should go through for my preparation. I have the overall test contents by ets ,but can anyone please tell me the detailed topics which i should emphasize on ,as the overall syllabus is quite vast.Here's the syllabus which i have:

Test Content

I. SOFTWARE SYSTEMS AND METHODOLOGY (40%)
A. Data organization
1. Data types.
2. Data structures and implementation techniques.
B. Program control and structure
1. Iteration and recursion.
2. Procedures, functions, methods, and exception handlers.
3. Concurrency, communication, and synchronization.
C. Programming languages and notation
1. Constructs for data organization and program control.
2. Scope, binding, and parameter passing.
3. Expression evaluation.
D. Software engineering
1. Formal specifications and assertions.
2. Verification techniques.
3. Software development models, patterns, and tools.
E. Systems
1. Compilers, interpreters, and run-time systems.
2. Operating systems, including resource management and protection/security.
3. Networking, Internet, and distributed systems.
4. Databases.
5. System analysis and development tools.

II. COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND ARCHITECTURE (15%)
A. Digital logic design
1. Implementation of combinational and sequential circuits.
2. Optimization and analysis.
B. Processors and control units
1. Instruction sets.
2. Computer arithmetic and number representation.
3. Register and ALU organization.
4. Data paths and control sequencing.
C. Memories and their hierarchies
1. Performance, implementation, and management.
2. Cache, main and secondary storage.
3. Virtual memory, paging, and segmentation.
D. Networking and communications
1. Interconnect structures (e.g., buses, switches, routers).
2. I/O systems and protocols.
3. Synchronization.
E. High-performance architectures
1. Pipelining superscalar and out-of order execution processors.
2. Parallel and distributed architectures.






III. THEORY AND MATHEMATICAL
BACKGROUND (40%)

A. Algorithms and complexity
1. Exact and asymptotic analysis of specific algorithms.
2. Algorithmic design techniques (e.g., greedy, dynamic programming, divide and conquer).
3. Upper and lower bounds on the complexity of specific problems.
4. Computational complexity, including NP-completeness.
B. Automata and language theory
1. Models of computation (finite automata, Turing machines).
2. Formal languages and grammars (regular and context free).
3. Decidability.
C. Discrete structures
1. Mathematical logic.
2. Elementary combinatorics and graph theory.
3. Discrete probability, recurrence relations, and number theory.

IV. OTHER TOPICS (5%)

Example areas include numerical analysis, artificial intelligence, computer graphics, cryptography, security, and social issues.
Note: Students are assumed to have mathematical background in the areas of calculus and linear algebra as applied to computer science.


Looking forward to your responses, Thanks in advance.

[deepuj]

Hi there , someone please post a reply to my previous post, please guide me in this regard, thanks. Waiting for thy reply calmlogic, thanks.

[CalmLogic]

can anyone please tell me the detailed topics which i should emphasize on ,as the overall syllabus is quite vast

Some of the GRE CS study guides that I link to in my signature try to provide some detailed coverage of the syllabus.

Of course, the best way to get a sense of how the topics are covered is to review the previously published ETS exams, including:

2003 (the current one at ETS.org)
2001, 1999, 1994 (all available at the Yahoo GRECS group, which also provides solutions to 2001 & 2003)

If you haven't already, I recommend you print out all of the previous GRE CS exams, Titanium Bits, the Mock GRE CS, and some of the GRE CS study guides, especially this one:

gre-notes.pdf

I would then put them in a binder and start stuyding from them today, even though you aren't taking the exam until at least November. Statistically, someone who doesn't have a CS background will find it difficult to obtain even an average score of 50th percentile on the GRE CS. This test is hard for CS students and super hard for non-CS students, especially me. So, if you don't score well on the practice tests in the ETS booklets, you may want to consider not even bothering with this exam and taking some of your colleague's advice, e.g. you don't need to get an MS to obtain an IT job and get a visa in the US/UK.

My perspective on the exam's difficulty:

1. Most of the people who take the exam have been studying computer science for at least 1-2 years and then have spent weeks or months specifically studying for this test.

2. With mostly a non-CS background (except for programming), I studied for 2+ months before taking the exam and bombed (less than 10th percentile). However, my studying could have been better, especially if I had spent more time with the titanium bits study guide. Also, I only studied a few hours each day.

3. Some previous posters to this forum with a formal CS background were shocked with dismay when they received scores of only 740 (54%) even after studying for months.

4. The test is designed in a very clever way. First, it covers a large array of possible topics, making it more difficult to prepare for. Second, the test ensures that you really know what you are doing by having multiple-choice answers that are tricky. Many of the questions have multiple choice answers in the following format:

A. only I is true.
B. only II is true.
C. only I & II is true.
D. only I & III is true.
E. I, II, & III is true.

With the above example, it's usually the case that the person taking the test will have second thoughts. For example, they will believe that I is true but be unsure if II is true.

I would also add that the people who take the GRE CS are a very select group. It seems to me that a very significant number of the people who take the exam in the US are at Ivy leauge schools, like Princeton, CMU, MIT, Berkely, etc. Also, a lot of people who take the exam are in China, and even the Chinese students, who probably do better than most US students, say that the exam is hard for them.

[deepuj]

Thanks for a giving me a true picture , because of my wrk i am not able to do much of a prep. as of now, but i jus wanna give it a shot, i think i shud grasp the fundamentals and concepts of the core subjects n then maybe the last two months before the exam i can attempt all the questions in various books n study guides.Thanks once again n looking fwd to thy help n support in the future as well.

Deeps.

[CalmLogic]

then maybe the last two months before the exam i can attempt all the questions in various books n study guides

Understandable. But, from the point of view of how the brain learns best, it would be ideal to spend at least 5 minutes a day starting now since the exam covers a lot of material.

Studying for 2 months or less is okay if you spent 2 years at MIT studying computer science as an undergrad. However, without a formal CS background, if you only study 2 months prior to the exam, you will likely get below 50th percentile unless you are a math / computer science genius.

[deepuj]

Hi there u r rite, ya i am preparing from now onwards, rather trying to prepare..
n sure i am not a math / computer science genius ;

so u mean i shud prepare the questions from now , i am askin this because, i dont know any thing about some of those questions , so wont it be good to learn the subjects throughly, n then attempt the questions, dont u think if i prepare the subjects nicely, i will be able to answer some questions??
or shud i refer to the questions the the learn the topic concerning the question as i encounter them, but this kind of study wont have any continuity i guess, so por favor, El Señor advice, u r more experienced n have more knowledge in this regard so what u say ,i will follow that method.

Thanks.

[CalmLogic]

or should i refer to the questions [then] learn the topic concerning the question as i encounter them

Yeah, I think that's best. I would focus on the questions as a way to find out what you need to learn. One can waste a lot of time reading textbooks since the exam is largely about solving problems, and the best way to solve problems is practice.

When I studied for the last exam, I made a spreadsheet file that listed all of the problems/topics I needed to learn. I added items to this list as I took the practice tests. I had the list sorted by priority, with topics that I needed to cover the most being listed at the top.