Q-740, V-710, Oct-29 : Experiences

[Dingus]

Finally it's over and the wretched test is done with, and kicked into oblivion,
I hope.
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The results were:
Quantitative --> 740
Verbal --> 710
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The first to come on screen were some background questions, I was jittery and on the edge, and not really willing to waste my energy on their "background" queries, but had to do them.

Then came the essays:
The perspective topic was the one on human mind Vs machines.
The argument was something about speed limits and accidents rates in a clueless county.

This time around, I wore a heavy muffler and a sweater too, so the nasty cold AC didn't get to me like it did in the TOEFL exam.

Then came the verbal part. It was pretty smooth sailing, I'm again baffled as to where I tripped up. As far as I can recall, there were no Non-Barron's words, so to speak. The antonyms and sentence completions were rather tough though, but nothing beyond the BIG book level. Like I said, I really have no clue, where I went wrong. I realise I'm a bad judge when it comes to second guessing the ETS imps.

Some words I remember are:
Laze (antonym)
Ecclesiastical (antonym)
Eschew (sentence completion)
Vain (antonym)

Will post more as I recall. LOL! It's really tough to remember many, I used to think it would be easy, just blasting off the questions after the exam. Just reaffirms how draining the wretched exam is.

The RCs were ok. One was a scientific passage (long) and the other two were on literary criticism (short) and some political science passage (short).

Then was the dreaded quantitative section. Yes, unlike all you quant experts, Math is not my metier at all! I really consider myself lucky to have scraped past with this score! Hope I don't get forced to retake the test because of low percentiles.

Though I'm not very qualified to comment, it was tough, and lengthy.
Here are some topics that I remember:

The section started with a question on radii of incircles, with the equation given. Had to plug in the values and get the answer. Straight and simple.

Then there were a ton of absolute value questions and kazillion algebraic comparisons, they drove me insane! I remember that one of the absolute value questions had a variable function within it, with integers.

Some questions I remember:
x, y are integers. m is the least nonzero value of |15x - 25y|
Compare:
m and 5

F(x) --> some algebraic expression
Compare:
| 12x -something| and 0/1/-1 (not sure about this ????)

For how many values is: x^2 -x -2 >= 0

Perimeter of a right isoceles triangle --> 2+ 2sqrt2
Find area.
(and there was NO *1/2* in the choices, mind you.


Data interpretation questions:
One was standard computation of percentages. The other had me flummoxed!! It was a non-standard normal distribution with class intervals!!

The question was something like this:
No of minutes in the | % of patients
doctor's waiting room |
----------------------------------------------
0 --- 20 | 10%
20 --- 30 | 26%
30 --- 40 | 32% (??)
40 --- 50 | (??)
..
..
..
and so on

If 15 minutes is equivalent to the 25th percentile
25 minutes is equal to the kth percentile
Compare k and 50

Did I have to use the formula with the class intervals? I had no time so I made a guess and moved on.

The last six question were finished in a frenzy and I was absolutely wracked at the end, there was no time! I sincerely advise everyone to practise their timings really well. It matters a lot ! Also, if you have no time to think in the end, take wild guesses, mark the damn section and make sure you FINISH it, right up to the 28th devil! I did just that in the last stages, I know my scores must have come down because of it, but I was hard-pressed for time!

Then was an identified research section on verbal sentence completion. It had three blanks and 15 words to choose from in three columns with differing shades of meanings. I started out adventurously and did about five, then I realised I simply had no energy to think or to concentrate. Considering the long and lonely drive back home, I thought it would be wise to quit and I did just that. Hope they didn't penalise me for that by lowering my verbal score. I can't bring myself to trust ETS somehow.

I drove back home and here I'm at the comp, pecking away at this post. Any queries and doubts are welcome.

Looking forward to hearing my friend, Econ's experiences now!

[awhig]

Congrats Dingus for good scores . Really you would be feeling light today.
Where do you reside?

Thanks a tonne for giving an insight of paper. Best wishes for your future endevors for admission.

For you verbal was a child's play as i had been reading your posts plus had a chance to interact with you thru this platform.

Waiting for Econ's results.

[sally82]

Congratulation, Dingus! 710 in the verbal section is great :-) I'm happy for you, you really deserve this score, after all the effort you put into preparation. Good luck with your application!

I'm sorry that you had tough luck with your quant questions. But 740 is still a decent score and if the other parts of your application are ok, then I would worry about it. In general I think that the importance of GRE scores is a bit overestimated. Well, that's just my two cents. Anyway, where do you want to apply?

[buddyboy]

hey hey Dingus, thanks for you tips !! I am going to take the GRE test this coming Sunday and for the last few days, I just don't feel like studying for the test no more. I am so afriad of taking this test ... sigh ~~
Anyways, I was thinking about of the math problems that you posted. For the traingel problem, I think the answer (if you posted them correctly) should be 1.

perimeterer:2 + 2sqrt(2)
iso-triangle: 2 sides are equal (call them x) and the other side -- the base (call it y)


2x + y = 2sqrt(2) + 2

x= sqrt(2)
y= 2


suppose the height is H for this triangle:
(H^2) + (y/2)^2 = x^2
H^2 = 2 - 1

so, H=1

(base * heght )/2 = area of triangle
therefore, (2*1)/2 = 1

was it one of the choice from the MC though?

[Econ]

Dear Dingus


I am very happy for your results. Your V is just perfect (98-99%). Sorry, for the bad luck in the Q section. 740 is still decent although I think that you deserved a better score. Anyway, your total score is perfect (with the 5.5 or 6 that you will take in AWA it will be even more perfect)-------> thus do not retake the ordeal

For V, do not disregard that for a 710 you may have made only 3-4 mistakes (with 9/10 in the first 10) so your performance is just excellent.

Were do you want to apply?

Congratulations friend !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now it is time that you celebrated (I will drink (or maybe even I will quaff=swill=guzzle but not sip) some beers for both of us!

[Dingus]

Thanks awhig, sally and buddyboy!

buddyboy, you are right indeed. Oh well, it didn't strike me during the exam, what the heck! Exams are a bane on this earth.

If you don't feel like studying, then don't. There are no gains from over-stressing yourself and getting unnecessarily tense. I don't think you will have any problems in Math like I did. I don't have a math or an engineering major and just have a vague recall of the subject from what seems like an aeon ago. I brushed it up frantically before the test and it looks like I made a nice hash of it.

However, the course I would be applying for needs some level of quantitative proficiency (Carcinogenesis and Cancer Epidemiology) and I thought a nice score in the section might make a good impression. I still don't get, what on earth, any sort of "quantitative proficiency" that one might have, has got to do with solving absolute value equations or finding areas of circles and triangles in 45 minutes!! The very idea totters on a ill-conceived fraudulent pyramid of misconceptions.

Whatever you do buddyboy, stay calm and try to sleep well on the night before the exam. It doesn't help at all, if you see your perspective essay topic and no example or creative thought comes to your mind, or that you miss a simple problem, just because you are too tired to concentrate.
(I was also a victim of the sleep deprivation syndrome. )

Today:
Revise your formulas and tricks.
Take a test and see if your timing is alright.
Go through the word list as fast as you can.

On the last day:
Chill out. Do not think about the exam.
If scary thoughts enter your mind think about this:

Is somebody forcing you to take this test?
Ofcourse not! You chose to take it of your own free accord!

Will the world judge you on the basis of your performance on this test?
That is the most ridiculous thing to imagine! This stupid headache is a archaic necessity that has been forced down our collective throats; if this is what it takes to judge anyone, then let the judges go to hell.

Have you or have you not faced bigger and far more important tests than this one?
I'd be surprised if you said "no". Graduating from college sucessfully is a great test in itself!

Do you want a 1600?
The answer here should be: "Yeah, I would take it gladly if I got it", and never, "Oh my, I absolutely *must* get that score."

Don't set targets for yourself, they are a good way to get yourself enmeshed deeper into a nasty scare.

All the best, managing your fears is half the battle won!

One more question that I remembered:

Find sum to 100 terms of an arithmetic series with
a(n) = 1/n - 1/n+1

[gre_nidhi]

Great job....considering the difficulty of quants you were given but i think your score is good enough to get you admitted in any university....i was sure about you n Econ that both of you will ace the test and congrats for that.

Also thanks for giving good insight of the questions. All the best for application. Now enjoy n have fun...

[on_dope]

Congrats dude ... ! Great job specially in Verbal .. Can u enlighten me with few of verbal tips ...

One more thing to ask .. like I'm gettin ( 1450 + ) in princeton tests
but in Kaplan series I'm lagging at large ? jus ( 530, 780 ) ?? Specially temme abt how to manage wid RC's .. as I suck big time in it ! I dont have much time .. as the judgement day is jus after 1 week .......

anyway .. Dude, Have a Great time ahead

[Dingus]

Originally Posted by Econ

Dear Dingus
-->thus do not retake the ordeal.

That sounds great!

Were do you want to apply?

For my field of speciality, I put in Hopkins, SUNY (Buffalo), NYU and U.Penn
today, however, I might be aiming at lower ranked univs next, to be on the safe side. Makes me realise, the real ordeal begins now with SOPs, LORs and transcripts apart from scouring the web for univs and funding.

Congratulations friend !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now it is time that you celebrated (I will drink (or maybe even I will quaff=swill=guzzle but not sip) some beers for both of us!

Hehe! Cheers to you, keep within safe limits. Bacchanalian orgies can cause a condition called cirrhosis.

Thanks to GRE-nidhi! Your wishes helped me undoubtedly! I'm sure your next date with the GRE will be a very happy one indeed. Mark my words.

[Dingus]

Originally Posted by on_dope

One more thing to ask .. like I'm gettin ( 1450 + ) in princeton tests but in Kaplan series I'm lagging at large ? jus ( 530, 780 ) ?? Specially temme abt how to manage wid RC's .. as I suck big time in it ! I dont have much time .. as the judgement day is jus after 1 week .....

Concentration is the key to cracking RCs. You have one full week. Here's what you should do:
Visit http://aldaily.com/ daily and try to read the newly linked essays and articles in a timed fashion. Seriously, time yourself *very* strictly. Say, if an essay is to be read in 5 minutes, it is to be read in five minutes, there should be no lapse in concentration at all. After you finish, ask yourself: did I get the main idea behind the author's intent of writing the essay? Do I remember a few adjectives in the piece? List them, write them on a piece of paper. How many ideas do I remember, do they match any essay given in the ETS essay pool? The last question serves a double purpose of serving you with important ideas that you can retain and stuff in your essay *and* tests you on central idea/mood/drift/objective questions in the RC. Make it a point to do at least 5 essays daily, that is a total of 35 RCs in a week in varied subjects. You will see that following a strictly timed regimen has its benefits on the test day. Trust me!

Test yourself now: Allot 5 minutes for each essay here:
Society --> http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/fea...issenberg.html

Political Figures --> http://www.the-tls.co.uk/this_week/s...ory_id=2108783

Art & Perspective -->http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/featu...330413,00.html

Last, do not get distracted from your task. When your read a passage, wear mind-blinkers, just let yourself into the subject. You will find that it is easier to answer all the questions in one go, if you read carefully once, than going back a million times and re-reading it again to pick up the answers.