post AGRE

[gttts23]

Originally Posted by CalmLogic

Yes, gttts23, please share how long you studied, etc.

The test is very broad, but also very shallow, most questions can be answered in an average of 3 minutes or so, and therefore theoretical questions are either basic or they can be inferred from the properties of some basic algorithm. For example, from Kruskal's minimum spanning tree we know that the two lightest edges are always part of the minimum spanning tree (assuming no self loops, parallel edges and all edges have different weights). Questions that require computation should not take more than a minute.

Therefore there is no point in delving too deeply into the material. For example, there is no point in covering complexity classes beyond the basics. The exam is not likely to ask about PSPACE or the polynomial hierarchy.

I started with solving the 1997 ETS book, the ETS practice booklet, and all the exams I could find in the yahoo group or file sharing networks, listing topics where I needed to improve. The forum was also very useful in understanding the types of questions and rehearsing the material.

I finished my bachelor's degree 8 years ago, but my line of work requires me to be knowledgeable in logic, formal languages, and automata theory. I was a TA in theory of computation and digital systems when I was a student - I can still solve any regular/context-free/R/RE/co-RE/undecidable question that can be reasonably given in the exam almost immediately.

I studied a bit of combinatorics (for the general GRE), a bit of number theory and some probability (expectation, variance, etc.), gone over the types of sorts in CLR (I only knew bubble, merge, heap and quicksort until that), and then covered some of the details of balanced trees and basic graph algorithms such as dijkstra/prim/kruskal/floyd.

I read a few chapters from Hannesey and Patterson and listened to the Machine Structures course from Berkeley (UC Berkeley Webcasts | Video and Podcasts: CS 61C) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. This course alone covers 15% of the exam.

Then I reread a few introductory chapters in CLR and talked to friends that were TAs/lecturers in discrete math, automata and graph theory.

Total preparation of around 1 month, all while having a day job.

During the exam, my strategy was to read all of the questions first and only then solve the exam, starting from the easier questions, and never get stuck on any single question. This has left me 15 minutes for each of the three questions that were the toughest.

My best advice would be for anyone still in college to make sure you take courses that cover all of the major topics. It really makes it much easier.


G.

[gttts23]

Originally Posted by MDK

congratulations man , this is the best score I ever heard for Nov test.
BTW, where are you intending to apply ? MS or PhD ?

Hi MDK,

I'll be trying for PhD in the following universities:

UC Berkeley (EE)
Stanford
UT Austin (EE)
Rice
CMU
NYU

And for MSc in U British Columbia - they first require an MSc for anyone with a bachelor's degree.

G.

[CalmLogic]

My best advice would be for anyone still in college to make sure you take courses that cover all of the major topics. It really makes it much easier.

That, and everything else you wrote, is great advice. Thank you, G.

[saurabh_hmss]

guys i am dialling this no. +16097717290 from my vodafone mobile...

the call connects but there is no voice from the other side.....i dunno whats happening .....did ne 1 faced the same prob.......

ane other medium to know scores.........i want to know them today.....
por favor, El Señor reply fast

[f2003800]

Hi Saurabh,

I have dialed this no. 0016097717290 from Airtel mobile,INDIA. It worked for me. You will be asked registration or confirmation number, date of birth and finally credit card info.... I hope i haven't missed anything.... anyway as soon as teh call connects they will tell you what you need to have with you.


I hope this info helps... if you face any problem feel free to ask.

Regards,
Chiku

Originally Posted by saurabh_hmss

guys i am dialling this no. +16097717290 from my vodafone mobile...

the call connects but there is no voice from the other side.....i dunno whats happening .....did ne 1 faced the same prob.......

ane other medium to know scores.........i want to know them today.....
por favor, El Señor reply fast

[saurabh_hmss]

thanks f2003800........


i got 810.......though they r not Bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay!!!!11.........i am happy .....lets see.....

[f2003800]

Hello Earthlings

does anyone received Nov 3rd subject test scores by mail?? I would like to know my raw score, its end of December.. nearly 2 months after exam... any idea???

[saurabh_hmss]

I got my mail today

[vermaabhishekp]

I got mine too.. 52 correct 17 wrong. Raw score 48. Percentile: 84

[MDK]

I could finally get my Raw score for the October test
Here it is: 48 right, 12 wrong, 10 omitted. Raw Score : 45

This is totally crazy, I scored 45 and only got 770 ( 65%), I don't know WTF happened ????? I know it's something related to statistics, But it's totally unfair

I got mine too.. 52 correct 17 wrong. Raw score 48. Percentile: 84

your raw is 48 and percentile 84, you should dance and rock all the night.

Here is an Advice for prospective test takers: DO NOT TAKE THE OCTOBER TEST . you should take the test when the Indians take it. BECAUSE there will be more test takers.
so assuming that 100 students took the October test and 500 students took the November test ( this number increased because of the people from India and China).
So the Top 10% of the October test is 10 Students only, however the Top 10% of the November test are 50 students. So your chances of being among the top 20% of them are more likely.

Forumula Score: Scaled:
20: 640 (20th percentile)
21: 650 (23rd percentile)
22-23: 660 (26th percentile)
24: 670 (29th percentile)
25: 680 (33th percentile)
26: 690 (36th percentile)
27-28: 700 (40th percentile)
29: 710 (43rd percentile)
30: 720 (47th percentile)
31: 730 (50th percentile)
32 - 33: 740 (54th percentile)
34: 750 (57th percentile)
35: 760 (61th percentile)
36: 770 (65rd percentile)
37 - 38: 780 (69th percentile)
??: 790 (73rd percentile)
??: 800 (77th percentile)

Hey CalmLogic, It seems that your formula is far far away from the correct one. because the 45 gave only 770

so i guess if u get a raw score > 40 you should be at least around 800

How naive and stupid I was when I said that :S

I am going to jump of my balcony if I didn't get admission