Smileysquared

That's great! Actually we have the same plan but I am planning to do my exams under the SOA but we have the same first two exams. I wanted to start last year but had to put them off for health reasons. I am going to start my masters this fall also. Unlike you I don't have a background in FM so I have to work hard at it. I haven't started studying yet but will in May and then I will decide the date. I have decided to do my Masters in Finance and Economics. I thought that it would be the best combination for me personally because I want to do econ and also be an actuary. You can also look into a PhD Financial Economics also.

Moneyandcredit, have you started any of the actuary exams? Which society are you planning to do your exams with?

Data interpretation questions are also difficult for me also not because I don't understand them but it usually takes more time for me to get to the answer than ETS requires. You are right about it being ambiguous and the first thing one starts to do when their answer is not among the answer choices is panic. I can totally relate. Don't worry about it, just keep on practicing, read through the book's explanations and hopefully on the day of the exam you will be fine.

Congratulations Oldman! I am very happy for you. I too re-did the GRE yesterday but I didn't get any time to study at all this time! However, I expect a higher Math score than I had before but highly doubt that I will score as high as I did in the Verbal section this time. The verbal section had some words I never saw before. Anyway, I will get my results in December and I am hoping it is higher than the 1300 I scored previously. Good luck with everything.

If you want to become an actuary you will still need to pursue the professional exams under the SOA or the Institute of Actuaries etc. So if you can't afford the degree you can start these exams on your own just go on the internet and search for professional actuarial groups and decide which society you will want to be a part of and then sign up for exams etc.

Is it that the GRE verbal section is more important to get admitted to the program you want? Anyway I suggest you learn as much vocabulary as you can from Barron's word list. I used Barrons for my exam and got 600 for the verbal section. Just get some practice while you are learning those lists.

@student4life. I got 1300-700(Q), 600(V) and 5(AWA). We had alot of problems with our test center-it was a total mess not to mention that ETS left us in an open classroom in the middle of the Carnival season. I am not sure which of the two I am focussing more on-I did a major in math (my problem for the quant. section was my timing. I was totally thrown off by the loud distracting music and didn't finish the first paper. As for verbal just couldn't understand what I was reading for the comprehensions during the parade. I will start soon though. @Jeeves. I can't study certain subjects with music either and with others it depends on the type of music I am listening to. For example when I am reading a research paper I can't have any music in the background. It's just me but music helps many relax in their spare time.

I also work full time. I am planning to re-do the GRE in October but haven't started studying. I usually work for more than 8 hours per day but I also am learning to play the guitar professionally. It helps calm my mind alot. One can try some sort of activity like this-it really helps. I know it may seem like doing alot-having to study, work, send out applications and find the time to play an instrument but it helps balance your life and keeps one sane in the process :) I know what you guys are going through-I was there earlier this year.

I was planning to but couldn't get any sort of funding. Good luck to you-it was my first choice.

I don't know the link offhand but it's on the rapidshare website-do a google search to find rapidshare. There are a few links there but one of them is a pdf link. Click on that link. It will download very easily.

I just got one-thanks anyway!

Dear Friends, I am planning to re-write the GRE later this year but I cannot locate a copy of Nova's GRE prep course (the textbook) in my country. I know that there are copies of it on the internet but the one site that I have found-rapid share I cannot download anything from it. Can anyone send me a copy of this ebook please. I am particularly interested in the Math section of the book. Thanks, SS

Texas Instruments calculators are great. I have a scientific one, a financial calculator and a graphic calculator and they all work well. I will not recommend that you buy the graphic calculator because it can be programmed and as a result universities may prevent you from using them. In addition they are a bit expensive. A standard TI scientific calculator should be fine. I bought a Casio a few years ago but it did not last very long.

Try doing something to distract yourself from the stress. I know you must be thinking 'is she crazy I hardly have time for myself' but if you can find a way to calm your mind you will get more work done (both for GRE and in work). If you do decide to do the GRE exam in August I am sure you will do fine.......my prayers are with you and Oldman-I know how difficult it can be to have to study and work more than the required amount of hours. Good luck to both of you!

Personally I think that you should take the GRE. I also work full time and when I was doing the GRE I was working 40+ hours, I was ill and I was also sending out applications and studying for another exam. On the day of the exam we were left in an open classroom in the middle of our country's Carnival procession. In the end I got a 1300 and I didn't get alot of time to study. I am thankful I did it at that time because now I know that I have to do it again in October (the exam is only offered twice in our country for the year) and I think that I will be alot better prepared after seeing what the real exam was like. In addition ETS does not give you a full refund if you postpone your exam and you can always cancel your scores if you don't like the final result.You may be surprised how well you may end up performing under the pressure that you are facing.

I would say 6-8 weeks would be sufficient. Practice is key.

Thank you.

Can someone please help me locate this Big CD that is highly recommended for the quantitative section of the GRE exam for practice? Thanks. SS

From my experience to see if the money supply is really posing a risk to the economy one would examine the ratio of money supply to GDP over time. If it is increasing then you have a problem. The main reason all over the world for the rise in inflation has been due mainly to a rise in oil and food prices. I clearly remember that India was awaiting the monsoon rains to help boost their agriculture supply. If the supply of food commodities increases then it should help to lower prices. India is also planning to bring on stream nuclear reactors to help lower electricity prices in light of the rise in oil, gas and coal prices.

Reactor you made me smile when I read your post........so frank. Anyway I am not sure about if I will attend this year-it really depends on if I get the funding but now I am wondering if it is worth it. Thanks for your honest response. By the way have others discussed their experiences at Warwick formally on other threads before? I would really like to read about other people's experiences also if it is available and don't worry I will remember your request if I do end up in Warwick. Take care.

This is really scary-sounds like Warwick is not a good place to go and surprisingly it was my first choice! When I got admitted I just stopped applying elsewhere. I spoke to Professor Hodges and I got the impression that the lecturers were very helpful. I applied to the MSc Finance and Economics and was abit worried because I have absolutely no knowledge of finance....and now you people are scaring me. What do you mean by unfair exams?

You cannot just use the log of variables when you feel to. One only uses log to smooth out the variability seen in data. Be very cautious when using the log of any variable. OLS estimation is only justified if all your variables are I(0) otherwise you will end up with the spurious regression problem. Think about the reasons you are creating this model-is it for short term forecasting, long term forecasting etc. This will help you narrow which types of econometric modelling you may want to use. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is alot of fun. Take care.

Sorry for the late reply-I have an exam tomorrow. Oldman is also right-you need to practice. I would recommend that you at least do some of the Big Book exercises. The Princeton Review has a list of words with secondary meanings-make sure you know this list also. The Barrons usually gives you examples in which these words are used so it is not just learning off vocabulary. Besides I don't believe that one should learn off vocabulary just for an exam-it defeats the purpose of learning hence the reason I recommended the Barrons in the first place. I know how demanding your job can be-my best friend is an Engineer also but make sure you get some pratice-both in the verbal section and quantitative section-timing is important. I don't know about the GRE General Test book but from what I understand it is supposed to be a later version of the Big Book exercises. Also try to go through the topics that are usually tested for the AWA section. If you don't score as high as you want on the verbal section doing well on this section may offset that score. Are you planning to do a degree in Enigineering again. If you are then the Verbal section really isn't as important as the quantitative section. Anyway good luck-you'll do fine, your English is really good for a non native speaker! Cheers, SS

The high frequency list doesn't cover as much words as the 3500 Vocabulary Word list. I personally didn't learn the suffixes and roots from the Barrons but I only learnt the vocabulary. It seems like alot but I am sure there are many words in those lists you already know so it will not take as much time as you think to go through it. When I was preparing for my GRE I was working full time, studying for my other exams and sending out applications. If you are only have the GRE to study for then I would say that a month will be sufficient for your preparation-that was the amount of time I devoted to serious preparation for the GRE exam. Probably your combination with the high frequency lists and the suffixes and roots will be enough but to be on the safe side I would try to find out if anyone else tried that method and its effectiveness.

I am sure he is referring to the 3500 word list. That's the one I used and despite all the problems I encountered at the testing center I ended up with a 600 score for the Verbal section. Good luck