applyin for fall 08 (CS) /AGRE on Nov3/from elex backgrnd/Shall i postpone my AGRE?

[payal khimani]

Hey every1,

I am Payal Khimani.
I am new to this forim.Have subject gre on Nov,3.I am from elex background and have 1 yr + exp at Infosys till now...

Read many threads but couldnt figure out where exactly to start from.
I found the 2007 practice AGRE book(one which ets provided) very difficult

I have my applications (fall 08) + this AGRE exam.

Can anyone please help me how i shall go about......

I mean where exactly do i start studying from and what material should i refer to.....Is there any particular order in which u need to start studies....can any1 pls help....only 1 month left for the exam!!!!!


Can i postpone my AGRE to April,2008?I am applying for fall 08 for Masters in CS only.
This is because frankly speaking i have not started my studies in full flow.
Also I am finding the portion very difficult (Elex backgrnd).
I am intrested in Cs(hence want to do Masters in CS)...but i think i need proper time to prepare for CS subjects.

Thanks ,
Payal.

[R0jkumar]

Fall(2008) admissions deadlines for most top schools start around December 15th 2007 and end around Feb-March 2008. So, if you take your AGRE exam in April 2008, you most certainly will not be able to apply for Fall 2008 for the top schools. Since you indicate that you are not adequately prepared for the exam, i would advise you to prepare for the AGRE in April 2008 and then apply for Spring 2009. There will only be a four month delay since Spring 2009 means you will be able to start school in January 2009. But, the problem is there are not many top schools that have admissions for Spring semesters. Cornell and UCLA are the ones i can think of right out of the top of my head. It is an other matter if you want to apply for schools that don't really require AGRE scores . In that case you could go ahead and apply for Fall 2008 semester.

rajkumar

[payal khimani]

Thanks for your reply .......
Well i think i shall give my best shot and see how is my preparation and confidence level for next 15 days.......else i ll think abt spring 09......

Well i have a small querry....what are "good scores" for subject gre-CS.....

[R0jkumar]

Well for most top schools a good score is one above 90 percentile. For example UC,Berkeley says most students who got admitted took the AGRE and had above 90 percentile scores. But having said that, there is no one criterion that the admission committee bases it decision on. There maybe cases where the AGRE scores are low but the person has very good recommendation letters along with good research experience in a particular field that might make up for a low AGRE score.

rajkumar

[CalmLogic]

If one did not take CS courses in college (discrete math, algorithms, theory of computation, computer architecture, operating systems, etc.), then, generally speaking, one's chances of getting 50th percentile or higher are unlikely, especially with only 1 month to prepare. Among those without a CS background, I would think getting below 30th percentile is not uncommon. However, you may need to take the exam to show you have a sufficient CS background, in which case having a score of 50th percentile may be better than nothing. In any case, preparing for the exam will certainly be an educational experience, but I would not have my scores automatically reported.

For study tips, see:

http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-compu...tml#post411230 (Advice needed for GRE CS prep - Test on April 14 , 2007)
http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-compu...t-studies.html (Advice on Independent studies)
http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-compu...c&sort=voteavg

Even among those who majored in CS in college, got good grades, and studied for months for the GRE CS, there are so many stories of lower-than-expected results:

http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-compu...ov-8-test.html (How did people do on the Nov 8 test?)

Therefore, the average AGRE (GRE CS) is not-too-impressive at the relatively lower ranking MS programs:

the GRE examinations required, and the TOEFL exam in the case of foreign students. (The mean GRE scores for a recent entering class of students were: Verbal 580, Quantitative 782, and Computer Science Subject Test 752; the mean TOEFL score was 268 (minimum 213 required by the university). )

Computer Science, Rutgers University: M.S. Program in Computer Science

In contrast to the general GRE, the people who take the GRE CS exam are a very small, self-selected group of people, which is why it seems most test takers may be surprised by their percentile score. Even at the larger universities (test centers) in the US, it seems there are often less than 3 or 4 people taking the GRE CS, though these numbers are probably higher at top schools like CMU. Also, at most test centers, there may be no one taking the CS exam during the most unpopular testing date in April. (The most popular Subject Test is Psychology.)

[R0jkumar]

My understanding is that there is no test center in India for the November 3rd test for AGRE. Is that correct?

rajkumar

[CalmLogic]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe there are 11 test centers in India for the November 3rd test.

For a list of test centers, go to ETS.org.

[R0jkumar]

You are right. I was looking at the wrong columns.

rajkumar

[payal khimani]

thanks a lot for responding!!!!...

I am trying to give my full shot for the exams.....I am giving my test at Mumbai,s test center.

[f2003800]

hello payal
even im giving my test at mumbai. Actually i registered very late i.e. on 24th of last month. I started preparing but i didn't recieve exam ticket. How long it will take for recieving ticket from ETS?