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Oink · 07-01-2008, 10:18 AM

I gave my GRE a few hours ago, and frankly the results astonished me. Heres what i experienced :

AWA : This was pretty standard, and did not pose any problem to me as i am quite comfortable with writing. I finished the issue topic with 3 minutes to spare and the argument topic with 2 minutes to spare. i then checked for any obvious errors and proceeded for the 10 - min break.

My next section was verbal. This is where the nightmare begun. The first 2 questions were pretty easy. The 3rd question, however, stumped me. It was out of the Barrons and the Big Book vocabulary. It was an analogy question and the unknown word was the stem word. I had never heard the word before. However, i did eliminate some choices by building bridges. 2 of the choices did not have any proper bridge. I was down to two options. Then i analyzed the word, by pronouncing it again n again to see if i could gauge whether it was positive or negative. In the end i decided it was negative n marked the option. Apparently i was right

. To add to my dismay, i got an RC in my 5th question, the very thing id been dreading about. I spent more time than required on the RC in a desperate attempt to make it right. After the RC came yet another bouncer of an antonym, one which was out of both Barrons and Big Book. Again i spent time on this. I got a couple of SCs after that, then a 75 line RC in the 11th question. By the time i was on the 14th question, the timer showed 10 mins. I grew a little tensed, but managed to keep my calm. The 3rd RC, thankfully, was a 25 line one in the 21st question. I did it with good speed, and soon caught up with the running time. The last few questions were particularly easy, and furthered my apprehension of obtaining a low score.

The next section was Quant, and contrary to what i had heard of late, it was quite easy. In fact it was much easier than the PP questions. Anyways, Math has hardly ever been a problem for me, so i was pretty confident. I breezed through the section and at the end of it was pretty confident that i would score 800.

My research section was an argument analysis. I completed this section also, just for the sake of it. There was ( thankfully ) no unidentified section. When i came to the option of knowing the score, i stared at the screen for a minute, thinking hard, debating whether or not to cancel, as i was sure i had bombed my verbal section. In the end, i thought i might as well know where i stand, and got a pleasant surprise

A well known fact is that Powerprep usually reflects the approximate standing. In my case it was hardly that. My PP1 score was 1500, but my PP2 score was 1390.
Im Glad that this is finally over though

chestnut.cc · 07-01-2008, 10:24 AM

congratulations oink! whither now?... and if you could... what were the 2 analogies?... keep posting...

Goldust · 07-01-2008, 10:31 AM

Congrats, Oink. Turns out the pig did indeed have its day !

Oink · 07-01-2008, 10:36 AM

Thanks a lot ! And sorry no i cant really post the analogies without directly breaking the undertaking that i signed with ETS.
But the analogies were quite transparent, in the sense that even if u approximated the meaning of the stem words, you would come to the right answer. Also, many of the options were absurd, so they could be eliminated.

Quote:

Congrats, Oink. Turns out the pig did indeed have its day !

yes, the pig did have its day !!

MS_2009 · 07-01-2008, 11:30 AM

Awesome score

Congrats

!!
Oink, how was your experience with SC questions? I have my exam in 3 days and am quite worried about SC's, because of the past few days of grueling experience, I have had, in deciphering the correct answers for some of the BB SCs.. How would you rate them??
It feels so good to c score>1500, I wish I'll have one for me 2

. Congrats again!!

Oink · 07-01-2008, 02:17 PM

Well, i prepared for gre for a month, the first 10 days mugged up barrons lists, 5 lists per day, thereafter started giving tests. Never really concentrated on SCs until about 3 days ago, when my PP2 showed an alarmingly large number of mistakes in SC. So i did all the BB SCs and analogies in 2 days ( yes, all 54, if THATS not gruelling, i dunno what is ) yea, i found them quite difficult to comprehend, but as i kept solving ( getting initially 2-3 mistakes, later 1, then the last few tests none out of the 7 SC questions per test in BB) i found a general pattern. Usually i could eliminate all but 2 options. It was then down to the two options. I sort of got the hang of what would be the answer for sentence completion ( i dunno how or what it is, but i got some sort of pattern in the answer choices ) Analogy though, was still a problem, and continued to be till the actual GRE . In the end, BB helped a lot. If my answer dint match with the BB answer, i would think of WHY my answer was wrong. I would think about why THEIR answer is right. This way, i kind of got the hang of ETS thinking. And guess What , i got ditto BB question SC as my 8th question

, one which i had solved yday, and the answer to which i knew beforehand

doing tons of BB 2 days prior to GRE was probably the most useful of all, more, i daresay, than PP itself !
anyways, all the best

Oldman · 07-02-2008, 12:58 AM

Good job!

geek_goddess · 07-02-2008, 06:16 AM

congrats! that is brilliant

useful post. i still have some time and a big pile of barron's word lists and BB tests to go through, now i'm motivated to do them!

chestnut.cc · 07-02-2008, 07:30 AM

the pig shall guide the way... awesome... congrats again!... where/what are you looking at?

econ_phd_2009 · 07-02-2008, 09:19 AM

congratulations ! well done.

07-01-2008, 10:18 AM	#1 (permalink)
Oink Every pig has its day Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 32	1560 GRE ; Q:800 , V:760 , AWA: Awaited , gave my GRE today, a few hours ago I gave my GRE a few hours ago, and frankly the results astonished me. Heres what i experienced : AWA : This was pretty standard, and did not pose any problem to me as i am quite comfortable with writing. I finished the issue topic with 3 minutes to spare and the argument topic with 2 minutes to spare. i then checked for any obvious errors and proceeded for the 10 - min break. My next section was verbal. This is where the nightmare begun. The first 2 questions were pretty easy. The 3rd question, however, stumped me. It was out of the Barrons and the Big Book vocabulary. It was an analogy question and the unknown word was the stem word. I had never heard the word before. However, i did eliminate some choices by building bridges. 2 of the choices did not have any proper bridge. I was down to two options. Then i analyzed the word, by pronouncing it again n again to see if i could gauge whether it was positive or negative. In the end i decided it was negative n marked the option. Apparently i was right . To add to my dismay, i got an RC in my 5th question, the very thing id been dreading about. I spent more time than required on the RC in a desperate attempt to make it right. After the RC came yet another bouncer of an antonym, one which was out of both Barrons and Big Book. Again i spent time on this. I got a couple of SCs after that, then a 75 line RC in the 11th question. By the time i was on the 14th question, the timer showed 10 mins. I grew a little tensed, but managed to keep my calm. The 3rd RC, thankfully, was a 25 line one in the 21st question. I did it with good speed, and soon caught up with the running time. The last few questions were particularly easy, and furthered my apprehension of obtaining a low score. The next section was Quant, and contrary to what i had heard of late, it was quite easy. In fact it was much easier than the PP questions. Anyways, Math has hardly ever been a problem for me, so i was pretty confident. I breezed through the section and at the end of it was pretty confident that i would score 800. My research section was an argument analysis. I completed this section also, just for the sake of it. There was ( thankfully ) no unidentified section. When i came to the option of knowing the score, i stared at the screen for a minute, thinking hard, debating whether or not to cancel, as i was sure i had bombed my verbal section. In the end, i thought i might as well know where i stand, and got a pleasant surprise A well known fact is that Powerprep usually reflects the approximate standing. In my case it was hardly that. My PP1 score was 1500, but my PP2 score was 1390. Im Glad that this is finally over though

07-01-2008, 11:30 AM	#5 (permalink)
MS_2009 Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 25	Awesome score Congrats!! Oink, how was your experience with SC questions? I have my exam in 3 days and am quite worried about SC's, because of the past few days of grueling experience, I have had, in deciphering the correct answers for some of the BB SCs.. How would you rate them?? It feels so good to c score>1500, I wish I'll have one for me 2. Congrats again!!

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07-01-2008, 10:24 AM	#2 (permalink)
chestnut.cc Wouldbegood... Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 271	congratulations oink! whither now?... and if you could... what were the 2 analogies?... keep posting...

07-01-2008, 10:31 AM	#3 (permalink)
Goldust Let's get it on Join Date: May 2008 Location: India Posts: 326	Congrats, Oink. Turns out the pig did indeed have its day !

07-01-2008, 02:17 PM	#6 (permalink)
Oink Every pig has its day Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 32	Well, i prepared for gre for a month, the first 10 days mugged up barrons lists, 5 lists per day, thereafter started giving tests. Never really concentrated on SCs until about 3 days ago, when my PP2 showed an alarmingly large number of mistakes in SC. So i did all the BB SCs and analogies in 2 days ( yes, all 54, if THATS not gruelling, i dunno what is ) yea, i found them quite difficult to comprehend, but as i kept solving ( getting initially 2-3 mistakes, later 1, then the last few tests none out of the 7 SC questions per test in BB) i found a general pattern. Usually i could eliminate all but 2 options. It was then down to the two options. I sort of got the hang of what would be the answer for sentence completion ( i dunno how or what it is, but i got some sort of pattern in the answer choices ) Analogy though, was still a problem, and continued to be till the actual GRE . In the end, BB helped a lot. If my answer dint match with the BB answer, i would think of WHY my answer was wrong. I would think about why THEIR answer is right. This way, i kind of got the hang of ETS thinking. And guess What , i got ditto BB question SC as my 8th question , one which i had solved yday, and the answer to which i knew beforehand doing tons of BB 2 days prior to GRE was probably the most useful of all, more, i daresay, than PP itself ! anyways, all the best

07-02-2008, 12:58 AM	#7 (permalink)
Oldman Within my grasp! Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 240	Good job!

07-02-2008, 06:16 AM	#8 (permalink)
geek_goddess Eager! Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 79	congrats! that is brilliant useful post. i still have some time and a big pile of barron's word lists and BB tests to go through, now i'm motivated to do them!

07-02-2008, 07:30 AM	#9 (permalink)
chestnut.cc Wouldbegood... Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 271	the pig shall guide the way... awesome... congrats again!... where/what are you looking at?

07-02-2008, 09:19 AM	#10 (permalink)
econ_phd_2009 Eager! Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 91	congratulations ! well done.

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