grassissinging

Dear Scraggle18, Yes, I called the ETS. They are constantly calling my country India even over the phone...they think every country in South Asia is India! They made me wait for a very long time since they had to talk to their supervisor. They could not really clarify over the phone why they refunded my money so i hung up. I applied online with my friend's credit card who lives in Austria. Eventually after making a number of phone calls to the American Center and the test center in my country I found out the actual reason. The November test was also cancelled and they did not notify the American Center and the information was not even updated in the online bulletin of ETS. So I have to travel to India for the next April test...and I lost a valuable year. I can't go for the Fall 2007 session since I will be missing the deadline for PhD applications in February ...need to wait for Fall 2008. I wrote for a compensation to arrange the test for me sometime in January...of course they did not reply...they have those stupid electronic replies which promises to get back to you but never does. So here I am "waiting for godot"...who knows whether I can really get admission in the Fall 2008 session?

Dear Scraggle18,Thanks for your orientation. I have only 18 days left for studying for the December test ( if I can take it ). I am really worried because I got this strange e-mail from ets saying they are returning my money back since they could not schedule my test for December from a different country I have not even applied to take. Previously they sent me an e-mail confirmation , online confirmation number, test center date and time. I wrote to them several times ( thrice) saying that they have already sent me a confirmation and now this confusing mail rejecting my registration from a test center I didn't even apply!This must be a mistake. I am thinking of calling them to find out what went wrong. The American Center in my country is totally hopeless...they could do nothing to help me. I am worried if I can take the test at all...since the next date is in April and way long after the deadline...I will be badly effected if I can't take the test this year.Could you guys help? What should I do ? They are not sending me a reply...the confusing mail was sent to me on November 4th. And the confirmation was sent to me on October 10th. Well, I am in the same boat you are travelling. I haven't yet taken the general GRE. Hope to take it in the first week of January. What about you? I have worked a bit on my SOP but not the research paper. Let's pray for each other that everything gets done on time and for the best. Tired, confused and exhausted!Wish you all the best.

Dear Scraggle18,Thank you for posting your test experience. Could you please say a bit more on the emphasis and pattern of the questions in the test. It could be helpful for the December test takers.Hope you get your target score.All the best.Grassissinging

Dear Bohemian, Bravo! Thanks for helping me so much. I had trouble downloading some of the materials from this forum..like the Korean 10 GRE, the 5 800score, the princeton etc. I got hold of NOVA yesterday but Kaplan verbal is not available. Now that I know modern bookhouse and the cell number of Alamgir..I hope to find all the material and manage to go through them all. Yes...it would be a great help if you could help me with my math. I am extremely weak in math. I am planning to take the test by the end of December this year. Do you think I can manage by studying 3 hours every day?Did you study for a whole year or focused for 2-3 months? I just need 700 in verbal and 500 in math and 5/6 in writing. I also need to take the subject GRE in the first week of December. And I need to also work on my SOP...isn't that a lot of work? I am depressed already. If you do not mind I think I can help you with your SOP. Send it to me when it is done and I will can improve the English. Good luck with the rest of the admission process!

Hello Bohemian, Thanks for writing. I have never seen NOVA guides in Nilkhet. Can you please tell me the name of the shop you bought the guide from, please? How good is NOVA guide...I am from the humanities background and need to score as much as possible in the verbal section and writing section and 500 at most in the quantitative! What other materials do you suggest I should use? Yes, I live in Dhaka...a much older person than you are. I have been working as a lecturer for the last 5 years. I am very happy to see successful young people like you who are very practical, focused and hard working these days. But I can't help telling you that although your long post was very encouraging and informative to the forum members here at testmagic you need to also improve the level of your English ( if that is important for engineering students at all). I hope you do not mind telling you this. I am sure you will end up in a very good American institute with your good engineering background and fabulous GRE quantitative score. Good luck and please help me out with my query!

Hello Bohemian, Good to know Bengalies are doing so well these days. Congrats! Are you from Dhaka or Kolkata? Please tell me from where you bought the Nova GRE guides. I have been told that this is a very good guide...I have found all others except the Nova guides in the market. I am also terrified with the verbal section. Best wishes with your application!!! --grassissinging

Dear Cridamour, Congratulations on your admission at Brown! I would also like to thank you very much to help us with valuable information , advice and encouragement. I also applied to a number of American and Canadian universities for PhD program last year but got rejected from most of them. Some of them told me to reapply. So I am thinking of retaking the GREs. The university authorities were generous to let me know why I did not get admission through personal e-mail. Since they do not mention the reasons of rejection in their formal letters I wrote to them to find out the reasons. They usually look into the students' undergraduate result, an excellent SOP and theoretical background. My interest areas are Postcolonial Literature, Diaspora Literature and Feminism. It seems the English Departments in the West are becoming more and more theoretical based. I got rejected in most cases because they thought I did not have much theoretical orientation. Another reason for rejection was my undergraduate result! It seems that the Western educational institutes do not have much knowledge about the system of South Asian grading system. According to my university I rank in the top 5% ( upper second class) which they presumed to be a very low score. No one got a first class in years! Where as other departments get first classes in abundance. It is difficult for them to understand why English students do not get first classes. I tried to make them understand through my application that I am a serious academic person but in vain. I felt they are sometimes over critical of Asian applicants although many of us end up doing quite well when the chance is availed! Maybe it is difficult for them after all to understand our OLD SYSTEM. I was wondering if you would kindly send me your private e-mail address so that you could could give me some helpful advise on my SOP and make it better. I am a 29 year old, female lecturer teaching in some university in Asia for the last couple of years and badly needs to have a PhD to get promotion. What else is there to do but keep on trying even when I know there is very little chance of getting admission and not to mention the huge amount of money spent for the admission procedure? Good luck with your academic life!:grad: --Grass-is-singing

Dear Aveno,:D I think you have written a very good argumentative essay! It is precise and well formulated and the overall organization of the essay, length, vocabulary and sentence pattern is well suited for an argumentative essay to be written within 30 minutes. If I were to give you a score I would definitely give you no less than 5. You might even get a 5.5 from a more lenient examiner. :grad: Good luck with your effort! I am sure you will get a good score in the analytical section. :tup:

Congratualtions distillation!!! Please share your study plans with us in the forum especially in the verbal section and writing. Give us some tips and good luck with your quantitive part.:tup:

Dear Phinlit, Pkkim and Bluewhisky,:grad: Hello there! I have been visiting this site for sometime but remained silent for very long. Taking the GRE in Lit was a big disaster for me. :yuck: I haven't yet lost my hope completely because I still get to see people like you in this forum and the other forum like livejournal . Thank you so much for inspiring me through your enthusiasm expressed in mails written to each other. I took the last GRE Lit exam and felt the same like you guys. :blush: But I was wondering why pkkim and phinlit are taking the test again,:hmm: you scored more than 74%? Are you aiming for 99%? I think that is more than enough! I am thinking of retaking the test in November/December and I hope to get around 65%, is that too little or too much to ask for? :( I have no idea of what the average score is for admission. Some of the schools I applied last year suggested I should apply again and some said they would hold my application for one more year. Imagine the money I spent applying to 10-13 schools. I am taking the general GRE too at the end of August. I really hope it works this time, for Fall 2007. It's becoming more and more tough to get a placement for PhD in English Lit these days. I am interested in Postcolonial Lit. Bluewhisky seems to be in track, he/she has already chosen a clear-cut area "Modern Lit" but I don't understand why pkkim and phinlit wants to move away from Business dept when the job prospects are so great in that discipline! Not only that they are taking this difficult test over and over again. God bless you, you have so much patience and courage to win over things!! Well...of course one needs passion to study and do well in a subject and you guys have vowed to achieve that. Will you guys help me with my study plan? I desperately need help and motivation to keep me moving . Good luck to you guys!:tup:

Dear friends, Those of you who have written their test on the nov. date please post your experience here. I'm writing the test on Dec. i'm very worried because my preparation is not so good and there is no way i can cancel it either, it's too late and even if i do the entire money will be a waste. So what kind of questions did u have? what was the trend like. it would be very helpful fo rme and the others who are worrying so much if some of you could write abt ur experience. this is really a very difficult test. which period did they emphasise the most and the least this time? what about literary terms, theory, shakespeare, bible and greek mythology? plz help me do a little better! i need to score at least a 70% percentile. and i pray hard for all of you that you score well and get admission to the place of your choice. --grassissinging

hi vvv and everyone else, i waited for so long for someone to post a sample of question but no noe showed up! at last i took the test myself today from dhaka, bangladesh. we had only 6 people taking the test in the centre......one person came from india! we had two /three sets of question. i was the first person to have the second set of question. we were taken to a big room individually to the test. the environment was good........but i was overexcited. friends i have one advice to give that is.........60 seconds is too short time...........i couldn't finish most of the questions. it was almost like a trance. i feel so bad about it now.....such a waste of money. and i can't remmeber all the questions for you. so i was very sad.....although i knew i could speak well if there was no time constrain. but the man who conducted the test said i spoke comparitively better than others............since i spoke clearly and my pronounciation was good. but i am really not convinced. plz pray for me that i get atleast 50 otherwise my life would be worthless. i wish u all the best...........just be CONFIDENT. here is what i had: 1. a picture of two boys shopping. they were tired of shopping. after they came out they could not find their car in the parking lot. they found it at last after a lot of sear........it already dark by then. 2. where do u prefer shooping? in a nearby shop or a big place where things are sold in aboundace. 3. ( sorry can't remember the advantage and disadvatage question!) 4. had a double graph that showed the money spent on locla and international phone call over the years of 1997-2000 5. what is my opinion on the effect of intternet use over telephone in the future 6. can't remember this question either 7. greet a colleague who has been away for some time and inform him about the extention of the company and the new responisibilities taken 8. answer a complain message from a customer who received damaged fruit but there is only 2 hrs left for the party. offer a sollution 9. informs to your manager that a famours writers is comingto your book shop and what has been done so far and what not for the the program i wish u GOOD LUCK!! --grassissinging

Dear friends,:D I wish u all the best the 19th tse exam. those of you who are taking the test from the south east asian countries ( such as Korea, China, Janpan, Philipines, Hongkong, Taiwan, Singapore etc.) are about 3/4 hours away from my country. plz post your questions here for the rest of the world. it will be very helpful for us. I am taking tse from Bangladesh, not many people are taking the test from my country. i will be very grateful if any one could help me by posting the questions as soon as possible. i pray for everyone around the globe. thank u.:tup: --grassissinging

Thank you knok! i am taking tse on the 19th of november. very few people are taking this test from my country. so i am a little worried of what's going to happen. so plz pray for the best for me. i need a 55 for a taship to study at graduate level in the states. i definitely pray for everyone taking the test all over the world. may everyone's wish come true for what ever purpose they are taking the tse. god be with you.:tup: --grassissinging

Thank you VVV! Sorry to misunderstand u. I will try my best to help u too. Plz pray for me. Which part of India r u from? And what place do u live in the US now? Tell me why u r taking the TSE. Wish u the best. --grassissinging

dear hitesh, i am taking tse from dhaka on the 19th of november. i found no one to help me or anyone else taking the test from my country. plz send me the compilation attachment you have made and some useful advice . i need to score at least 55. here is my address: manusrat@hotmail.com thank you. grassissinging

Dear Sanya, Let's help each other. Do you have any book? I don't , I could not find them in Dhaka. If you have one, let's help each other. Let's start with the last type of the question in the TSE test that is the flowchart. Help us make a template. Let's all send in templates and practice at home by recording our voice. Send in some examples from your book plz. --grassissinging

Dear cheskamae vbmenu_register("postmenu_230998", true); ,:grad: Globally you are a little advanced from my country. So Plz do me a favour, post your questions as soon as you take it and help me. I'm very worried. I have no friend to help me out in my country, not many people write this from Dhaka. I think I am 3/2 hours after your time. I wish you all the best and pray to god that you get what you want, at least a 50 or even more. :tup: --Grassissinging Dear Sunita, :grad: Hello my friend, it's good to meet people of the same boat towards the same journey. I did not meet any one taking the test on the 19th of November from my country. I looked for TSE books and could find none in the bookshops of Dhaka. If you do not mind, could you help me and many of us in this forum? Plz post some questions from that good book you are using and send templates of the 9 different questions one gets in the TSE plz? Believe me, God will help you get what you want if you also help others. :tup: Best wishes, --Grassissinging Dear Sunita, :grad: Hello my friend, it's good to meet people of the same boat towards the same journey. I did not meet any one taking the test on the 19th of November from my country. I looked for TSE books and could find none in the bookshops of Dhaka. If you do not mind, could you help me and many of us in this forum? Plz post some questions from that good book you are using and send templates of the 9 different questions one gets in the TSE plz? Believe me, God will help you get what you want if you also help others. :tup: Best wishes, --Grassissinging

Dear friends, Plz post questions for Nov 19 test takers those of u who already took their test in September/ October. Then we will help others who have their test in a latter date. --grassissinging

Dear MSCFung, I am also planning to take the TSE this November. So I think I understand how u feel. Don't call yourself a loser. As far I know Singaporeans are good in English and I wonder why you got a 45. I think it is the system. Anyway your experience is making me worried because I use English with my colleagues too, but with a little mixture of my mother tongue. If I cannot get at least get a 50 I will not stand a fair chance for PhD admission. Inspite of that I pray for everyone in the forum......may be your school will accept this grade or may be you have to take it again. No matter what hold onto your dreams....... --grassissinging

Dear friends,:tup: Hope u r all studying hard and pacing yourself well to your destination. So am I, but once in a while am stressed out when I think I am nearing the final date. 10 December 2005 is just a little over two months. It is such an uncanny feeling. Am I the only one who feels this way? May be I'm over excited to take this exam. How do I calm down myself? Can anyone give me some tips to remain peaceful during and before the exam. I know I am always trying to view that I am doing well in the exam and be positive all the time and make others feel the same, but yet it does not seem enough. I hope and pray questions of this test is easy for all of us . I am trying my best and so is everyone. Please God help me and everyone in this forum. Wish you all the best.:grad: --grassissinging

Dear friends, I'm taking TSE on 19th November 2005 from Dhaka. This is my first time. I've never met anyon who is taking the test at the same time. I am very nervous. Please give me some inspiration by reaching out to each other by giving mental support. I heard a lot of people fail in this test although it seems to be a very easy test. Is there anyone else who is taking the TSE on the same test date? May be we can help each other. Plz write. --Grassissinging

Thank you Cridamour! You've been a very good adviser. I wish I could help others like you. I think I can help the forum better after I have sat for the exams. Wish everyone in the forum the best in the exams! :tup: :grad:

hi cirdamour and everyone! i haven't registered for the exams yet; thinking of doing that by next week. will u plz help me ? i am thinking of writing the exams according to this schedule: 1. subject gre -- 10 december 2. toefl and tse -- last week of december 3. general gre -- first week of january. do u think scheduling of exams will be too late to apply to universities with deadllins ranging from 1-15 february? will there be enough time to receive scores and send applications in time? i am thinking of applying to these universities in the usa: washington state university, tulane university, southern illinois university, st. louis university, university of rochester, nothern illinois university, florida state university, university of delaware, university of connecticut, baylor university,arizona university, university of alabama I am also applying to some canadian universities: queen's university, university of ottowa, victoria university, mcmaster university, western ontario university, dalhousie university plz give me your opinion of this selection so that i get some confidence to register for these exams and be mentally prepared to apply to these universities latest by next week. waiting for a prompt reply from someone.... --grassissinging

Dear Erin, I want to write my GRE in the first week of January and TOEFL & TSE in the last week of December. Do you think these dates are too late to get my scores in time and send my application to universities with deadlines from 1-15 February? Plz help, because I need to register soon. Hoping for a prompt reply. --grassissinging