coolvenk

Got my AWA scores yesterday. Made 4.5 Thoroughly disappointed. Had expected 5.5-6.0 since i did really well. I guess, like all other things, this involves some luck too... Nevertheless, I'm greatly indebted to TestMagic, for all the wonderful tips, and the great time I had here. Thanks Erin and your team for creating such an amazing forum, and to the wonderful community at TestMagic. You did pull me out of the blues, during my prep...I only wish i had found TM earlier. I guess it is payback time now...I'll try to contribute as much as possible... Thanks again, Venk

Hi salaisan, Congrats on the wonderful score! IMO though, you have been either very modest or very lucky... the GRE scene has been bad esp. in places like Chennai and B'lore. People who havent yet taken it, be warned...it may not be so easy for you...there's absolutely no reason to be overconfident if u've done Barrons... Again, fortune favours the brave, so there's no reason to lose confidence as well... All the best salaisan!!! Venk

Hi Ruby, GR8 score! CONGRATS!!!! Venk

Hi, Well it's something like this....you are born, not where you choose to, but by a quirk of fate. So suppose you are unable to afford a decent education and hence unable to land up in a decent job...it's not totally ur fault...So it is unrealistic to expect you to take responsibility for ur predicament.... Hope that clears it Venk

Hi Sri, Thanks for your encouraging words. I am planning to pursue a Ph.D. in Computer science specialising in Theoretical Computer Science. I'm concerned esp. about my Quants score which is 770. Is it sufficient to get into a good school, with funding? Thanks again! Venk

Hi Andrea, As I said, I didnt really prepare much for TOEFL, just a couple of days. If u have a lot of time and aren't comfortable with American English, I suggest u watch some American movies on TV probably and also CNN, esp. shows like Larry King Live, for listening. For structure, if are not good at Eng. grammar, I suggest you look at either Cliffs TOEFL or Barron's TOEFL. I have not used both, for structure, so u might be better served by getting somebody else's opinion. RCs, if u've prepared for GRE, that shud suffice...there are a few different question types, which u might want to get familiar with....but generally TOEFL RC is a cakewalk when compared to GRE Rc. Again, sam'e true for essays... My GRE score isn't really good...u could find beter suggestions at the Just fin. my GRE test section, the link is: http://www.TestMagic.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=54 All the best! Venk

I took my TOEFL today... NO, you are given scratch paper before the Reading section, but are NOT SUPPOSED TO USE IT DURING THE READING SECTION. This is what the TOEFL Orientation sheet that is given before the exam states. Of course, you could use it, and then erase stuff, but remember that you are being videotaped, so though unlikely there is potential for trouble...Be warned! Hope this helps! Venkat

Hi, Just got my final score report by (snail) mail (after many a lost report and enquiries). Got a score of 6.0 on the essay and an overall score of 300. Needless to say, I am satisfied with my performance :-D Will this, in any way offset my pedestrian performance on the GRE (Q770 V630 Essay 4.5) ????? TestMagic has been a big help, for both the GRE and TOEFL....I went through the TOEFL posts only on the night before the exam (I especially remember Madhura's post)...it really helped... Thanks a lot to all of you, especially Erin Billy who has made it all possible...It's a pleasure to be associated with such a wonderful community !!! Venk Hi, My scores are L : 30 S/W: 13-30 R : 30 Score range : 243-300 Happy about my score :cool:. I don't know if it is a case of too little, too late, though ?. Got 1400/1600 (q770 v630) in GRE. Can somebody tell me if this can offset poor GRE score to some extent? Sections were generally easy. In Listening, make sure you put it to max volume. You can probably adjust, the audio later with some external volume control (if u have it on ur headphone). I read Madhura's post the night before. It was very useful. Here it is : http://www.TestMagic.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4122 In listening, lot of American slang is used. Watching American movies would help a lot. Structure was ok...again, I am almost a native speaker of English, have been speaking English, for a long long time. Reading was also ok. Make sure you take your time, and double check your ans. Some questions are comparatively a little tricky. I went slow from the beginning and finished 10 min before time (In Powerprep, I finished like 40 min b4 time). I felt this is a better approach than finishing the whole thing with half an hour to spare, and revising it. Anyway, follow what works best for u. Writing was ok...did reasonably fine. I didn't prepare much. Read the intro parts of Cliff and Barrons, and took one Powerprep test. Got 230-287 on Powerprep. Just be cool and you will be fine... Hope this helps! Venk

Hi, Not very happy with scores :-( Took it on Jun 30, same day as Vinay. I didn't fill the initial questionairre about background. Quants was ok, but was atleast as tough, sometimes a little more than PowerPrep...was expecting 790-800...donno what happened. Verbal, some words were not frm Barrons...many were. 2nd verbal which turned out to be exp. was bloddy easy, i wud hav made 750+ had it been th real one. Essays were ok...i did well. It is important that you guys keep your cool. I was a bit flustered after the 1st verbal...that probably affected my Quants performance a bit. However, I feel that this GRE game, involves a lot of luck too, so say your prayers. Enjoy! Venk

Hi Cryptic, Thanks for your kind words of encouragement. It would be nice if u cud assign a score, though. Thanks again, Venk

Hi, It would be mightly nice if some of you could comment on this: Thanx a lot, Venk --------------------------------------------- 184 "It is dangerous to trust only intelligence" --------------------------------------------- Intelligence, though a very desirable and useful trait, cannot be trusted all the time and can never replace experience, mature judgement and in certain cases instinct, though it can serve to complement them. Intelligence may be defined as the ability to face new situations with a certain degree of success. Intelligence, though useful with lack of experience can never replace the need for experience. It can, at best, very succesfully complement experience. This is the reason why candidates with work experience are often preferred over ones with no work experience, inspite of their having better academic credentials, in top business schools. Also, fresh graduates from business schools are not immediately employed as CEOs for the same reason. Trusting intelligence may lead you to success, but if not harnessed properly, intelligence may dictate violation of ethics and moral principles, to achieve the goals. After all, ethics and morality do place restrictions on what is acceptable. An intelligent but unprincipled person might view such restrictions with contempt. For example, an athlete winning a race by killing his competitors is ethically and morally unacceptable, but intelligence alone might not rule out such a solution. Notions of ethics and morality are essential, and intelligence without such qualities, could well be dangerous. In certain cases, it is better to trust human instinct, rather than intelligence. I read about a real life incident, involving a farmer, sometime ago. A pickup truck acciedntally got stuck in a shallow ditch, in which the farmer's son was working. The farmer who was working nearby, rushed to the spot, only to find his son being crushed under the weight of the truck. Instinctively, he went ahead and lifted the truck just enough to let his son wiggle out. Only later did he think about his action. The truck weighed over a ton and it is not common for humans to lift such enormous weights. Had the farmer applied his intelligence and thought about this, he would have ruled out the option of lifting the truck himself, and his son would probably have lost his life, or at best been severely crippled. It is his paternal instinct to save his son that made him lift the truck without giving it another thought, and in the end, made the difference between life and death for his son. In short, intelligence is a handy trait, but it can only complement other qualities like experience, ethics and instinct. Trusting intelligence alone can be dangerous.

Hi, Please give ur comments. Thanx, Venk ------------------------------ The following appeared in a recommendation from the president of Amburg's Chamber of Commerce. "Last October the city of Belleville installed high intensity lighting in its central business district, and vandalism there declined almost immediately. The city of Amburg has recently begun police patrols on bicycles in its business district but the rate of vandalism there remains constant. Since high intensity lighting is apparently the most effective way to combat crime, we should install such lighting throughout Amburg. By reducing crime in this way, we can revitalize the declining neighborhoods in our city." ------------------------------ The author's conclusion that installing high intensity lighting, will indirectly revitalise the declining neighbourhoods is flawed. The author has provided no statistics about the incidence of vandalism in Belleville, before and after installation of high intensity lighting. It is quite possible that even before the installation of high intensity lighting, the number of vandalism incidents in Belleville were quite low. For example, if the number of vandalism incidents were 3 per month before installation of high intensity lighting, and 1 per month after, then though this is signinficant in percentage terms, it probably does not justify the cost of installing high intensity lighting. Also whether the reduction in incidences of vandalism has remained steady is also not clear. The author erroneously assumes that reduction in vandalism in Bellevelle was due to the high intensity lighting. This could be attributed to other causes. For example, it is possible that the employment generated for the installation of high intensity lighting, would have to some extent mitigated the discontent of youth, which might have reduced incidences of Vandalism. The continuing vandalism incidences in Arburg, could be attributed to the inefficacy of patrolling on bicycles, rather than due to unavailability of high intensity lighting. It is possible that vandals find it easy to escape because teh police is unable to pursue them successfully on bicycles. More attention should probablty be paid to improving this aspect of policing rather than on the installation of high intensity lighting. It is also conceivable that most of these vandalism incidences occur during the day. In this case, installing high intensity lighting will have no direct bearing on reduction in vandalism incidences. The author provides no reasons for installing the high intensity lighting throughout Amburg, when it has only been installed in the business district of Bellevelle. The author claims that high intensity lighting appears to be the most eefiecient way to combat crime. The Belleville example only highlights the ostensible efficacy of high intensity lighting in combating vandalism, not other types of crime. The author wrongly assumes that reducing crime will revitalise the declining neighbourhoods of Arburg. The decline in the neighbourhoods could be attributed to other factors such as high unemployment rates and unavailability of good schools. In sum, the author's argument is severely flawed. Additional information such as vandalism statistics before and after installation of high intensity lighting in Belleville, statistics about vandalism instances in Arburg, studies of efficacy of bicycle patrolling, and studies on reasons for decline in Arburg neighbourhoods, would go a long way in furthering the author's argument.

Hi, It wud be mighty nice if some1 scored this for me and gave comments. Many thanks in advance, Venk ------------------------------ 198 "Instead of encouraging conformity, society should show greater appreciation of individual differences." ------------------------------ Society should indeed strive to show greater appreciation of individual differences, as long as these differences do not affect the freedom of people. Confirmity is necessary, in certain cases, to preserve freedom. A modern free society like ours, is made up of people from diverse backgrounds. This invariably leads to differences in the individuals. These differences may arise broadly due to two different reasons. First, the differences may arise by birth. Religious, cultural , social differences and physiological differences like gender and being left or right handed, come under this classification. Second, are the differences arising due to diverse viewpoints. These individual differences if respected and nurtured enable us to have a diverse and vibrant society. After all, if everybody was alike and had the same viewpoints, life would not be so exciting, and it would make for an insipid society. It is only radical new views and ideas that have transformed our society time and again, and these can be brought out only by showing greater appreciation of individual differences. It is important that these differences are respected, and that people have the same rights, irrespective of their individual differences. People should not be discriminated because they are different. For example, many countries have granted equal rights for same sex marriages, as heterosexual marriages. Till recently, such people were not recognised by law, and this was considered a taboo. So, they had to live a secret life, always with the fear of retribution. But, now they can live without fear and with freedom to pursue their destiny. The point is that, irrespective of the opinion other individuals, an individual must be free to pursue his way of living, as long as others' freedom is not affected. Only this will encourage creativity, foster innovation and in general lead to a more vibrant society. However, when an individual trait, infringes with the freedom of others, laws must be enacted to curtail this, and confirmity to the law must be made mandatory. This is necessary to preserve others' freedom. For instance, just because and individual has a propensity to kill others, he must not be free to do so, in the name of showing greater appreciation of individual differences. His act of killing takes away another individual's right to live, which must not happen. Laws are therefore needed to ban individual actions that violate others' rights. In sum, a greater appreciation of individual differences is necessary, while ensuring that this does not affect the individual freedom of other individuals. Only this will lead to a vibrant and healthy society.

When Jan starts, Tom has alredy read: 5:20-4:30= 50m = 30 pages*5/6=25 pages Jan can read 40 pages-30 pages=10 pages faster per hr than tom To catch up with tom Jan will need 25/10=2h 30m Add that to her starting time 5:20+ 2h30m= 7:50 Voila! For 2nd problem use relative velocity! They r traveling toward each other at 120 floors a min. Since they r 40 flrs apart, they'll meet in 40/120 = 1/3 min. in this time steve'll go 57/3=19 floors up. Since he starts off in Floor 11, they meet at 11+19=30th flr Hope this helps! Venk

I agree!!!