anam

Hi, I prepared thoroughly for two months....i read barrons' princeton, etc, powerprep II and worked for vocabulary everywhere. Still i just scored 550-650 in verbal and 720-800 in maths. Im very worried about my scores as i want to get admission in a good university.....what should i do? should i retake it? Please help me out

:crazy:

In any field of endeavor, it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field. Creativity is the foundation of achievement in any field let it be arts, science, literature or economics. Innovative ideas give birth to new ideas and education contributes in turning those into reality. Ideas of any field are an extension or a step above the previous accomplishment but this doesn't necessarily always hold true. Sometimes deviations from the norms are essential to stand out from the crowd. Hence, i believe that strong influences from the past can be useful but not necessary. This belief is concluded from a lot of examples which have made historical achievements in a variety of fields. Lets begin with the latest example of 'Facebook' created by Mark Zuckerburg in 2006. This social network gained popularity by connecting almost 750 million people worldwide. Some might say that it is a modification of many other networks. But the key to its success have been its innovation and creativity. The new features and nascent ideas have flourished due to people's interest. Similarly, let's explore some other fields. Lets take media and the movie making scenario. Movies have been made since the last century and will still be made. James Cameron is the pioneer of movie making. He has earned a strong name by making Oscar award winner movies for the past three decades. But he has earned this name not because he was influenced by past movies rather because of his adventitious spirit and futuristic ideas. James Cameron made Terminator when special effects were not even as close as famous in the industry. But the movie and series proved to be a super hit and crossed all barriers of technical boundaries. He made Avatar with the 3D technology. This was the new technology and the most expensive one as well. But his intuition and spirit helped him in achieving a pioneer status of the movie industry once again. Though we can't explore examples from all fields in this essay but we can draw some generalizations on the basis of what we have explained. Every new achievement has to be something new, intuitive and innovative. It can be an extension of the past or a totally new invention. Therefore, i would restate that invention and influence can be a blend for achievement but invention alone can also certainly reach the zenith of accomplishment.

Our world is a collection of individuals belonging to a variety of ethnicity, speaking a diverse mix of languages and practicing various rituals. Hence, it can be called an eclectic blend of human species. Behaviors are exhibited here on two levels; firstly collective as a nation or ethnicity and secondly as an individual. Now, the issue here is to analyze behavior. We have to understand that behavior is shaped by not only other people's action but our own emotional interpretation effects it as well. Behavior can be explained as a combination of reaction in response to a certain action by someone else which is a collective response and also the emotional imprint the action leaves on us which varies individually. Hence, it would be incorrect to argue that behavior is totally dependent upon other forces rather it is also effected by our interpretation and understanding of the force. Lets go back into history, to understand that how people have responded to actions and attitude forced upon them collectively. In 1885, people of the Sub continent in South Asia started fighting for their freedom against the Britishers. It could be said that it shows how collective action was shaped by the attitude of the British forces. But a close examination would reveal the variety in these response because of the differences in individual intellectual capabilities. A few Indians in Punjab responded to the freedom movement by committing murders and used violence as a tool. The Muslims resorted for a political movement and Hindus shaked hand with the Britishers. This shows that though the fight for freedom was the common implication, every other group interpreted and took different measures for it. Similarly, lets examine the post 9/11 behaviors amongst people. Most of the people have become cautious about their protection and have developed ways to protect themselves. But the violence has had two pronged effects as well. On one hand, some have become more cautious and sensitive towards violence. On the other hand, a few have become apathetic due to the excessive bloodshed. Some have adopted prejudices towards Muslims in the world. Others have become more united with them. Hence, though the forces play a role in shaping our behavior but it is not the only factor. Factors like emotions, interpretations, intellect and personality play a vital role as well .

These days it is highly emphasized that the responsibility to educate the poor lies on the shoulders of the government. To take this initiative further ahead many developed countries have initiated programmes to invite students from developing countries on full scholarships. But the factor to be noted is that as yet we are unable to analyze that this full scholarship benefits the country in future or not. Many students, who though qualify all sorts of merit based tests, use their government’s money to earn an honorable degree, but then they don’t serve the government which served them. So, to ensure that the state spending is not going waste, there should be an agreement that these willing students will serve their country with the same enthusiasm as of now. As mentioned earlier many governments have started programs to provide financial support to students who are bright but not financially stable. But there are both positive and negative outcomes associated with these initiatives. To strengthen my analysis I would like to quote a few examples here to have a look at both sides. Firstly, let’s take a look at the example of Pakistan, an under developed state which has taken a few steps as well to support its instable intelligent students. Pakistan, since its beginning in 1947 has provided free education to students studying MBBS. Pakistan considers these future doctors as a national asset and each student spends only one twentieth of the original expenses which the government bears. But statistics have not showed any promising dedication and devotion from the side of these bright doctors towards their under developed nation. Out of these doctors, around forty percent serve other developed countries and while fifteen percent leave their degrees to pursue other careers. Though the reason behind this could be many other proxy variables but the data doesn’t support the government initiative in anyhow. Now, lets take a look at the initiative taken by united states of America, which provides full scholarship to students in many under developed countries. This scholarship is given on the agreement that students will serve their poor countries for at least an year. Many students who avail this scholarship find ways to avoid coming back to their countries and try to find a job in the prosperous country. Though these examples throw a very bad perspective towards the audience but some very positive aspects cannot be denied as well. Students in higher level universities should be given financial aid if they can’t afford their tuition fees. But they should also be obliged to serve their country as in economics ‘there is no such thing as free lunch’. This is my essay practice for GRE kindly comment ! thanks