anothernovice

Hi. It's good that you've included your examples but those examples seem to demonstrate that hard work, determination, dedication led Edison & Bolt to their success. While they were working and facing failures, it's not mentioned that they faced an immense amount of sadness. Thomas Edison optimistically puts it, 'I found 9999 ways how to NOT do it' (on the invention of the light bulb). You need to connect these examples (or find new ones) and connect them with the topic better. For someone who's working very hard, and making progress the preparation for success might actually be a happy journey. Rethink your points and you could write a better one :)

Hello destinationMIT, I'm currently prepping for the GRE, my date's set for the 29th of June. I'm scoring a 305 - 310 [when I individually add the verbal & quant scores] on the Manhattan Prep tests. Like you I'm focussing on Verbal as well.I think I've got a good grasp over my Quant section. I need to increase my Verbal score. Would you recommend any (free) online sources for this? Buying the Verbal Grail book would stretch me thin here :( How did you prepare for your AWA? Was there any other site where you could get your submissions graded? Also, would 6 full tests from Manhattan Prep be enough for practise (considering I have 2 months) or must I purchase some from Kaplan or Barron's?

Absolutely! marystaksreiss you could email any of us!

Sigh! This is where I lose out. I'm off Facebook since a year :(

The ETS website has a pool of topics for AWA. Topics would be fetched randomly from there during the main test. Do a casual Google search for those topics and their sample essays; you'll get a good idea.

Yes, very much so. What about AWA, are you good with those?

May I send you an email sometime, Sharat?

Just wondering, why is your username priyankapillai ?

Hi, This is my first essay for Issue Analysis. I'll be taking my GRE soonish and I'd appreciate constructive criticism for my essay! :proud: Here is the Issue: As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate. Here is my response: Technology has developed with a primary goal in mind - to aid and/or assist the human species. Technology has served man for his physical needs such as protection from cold (fire), easy transportation (the wheel), elevation (the pulley), etc and mental labour (the abacus, Liebniz calculator, etc). Over time, as technology progressed, and very rapidly so in the previous and current decade, humans have grown increasingly dependent on technology. We have fashioned anything we could for the smallest of tasks. Tasks that earlier required practice, dedication, sharpness of the mind, agility can be effectively carried out by a small, shiny piece of tech. Since the advent of silicon chip, technology could now be held in one’s palm and quickly accessed. The best example of this would be the calculator. Calculators are used for every bit of calculation that includes a two digit number (or maybe even one). Even a simple task such as calculating change at a cashier has become a strenuous task and even more so since one has a couple of seconds to correctly calculate the change, verify it and accept it. Another area that has affected us humans, is communication. The invention of the telephone has certainly helped convey messages and feelings over long distances; and the cellphones have truly made them “wireless”. Text messaging came into existence and people often do not compose messages correctly thereby leading to much misunderstanding. Typewriters made writing easy and computers, even easier. Using a typewriting to type out documents required much thought (since the mistake could not be undone and one had to start all over again) but not much while using a word processor software on a computer (thanks to ready-made templates for various documents). Many simple, mundane activities now have a technological equivalent. A simple task such as Planning – be it for the day, month, year, or even grocery shopping – now has a software for helping people plan “better”. Our growing dependence on technology for most of our day to day activities only hampers us more. Sure, some intervention is required by technology but an excess of it costs us our ability to make decisions. When everything is presented in a split second time gap without any effort on our part, the mind tends to lose its edge. Instead of reasoning how to complete a task, if we are quickly presented with directions, we are being spoon-fed ready information which does not do us any good. It decreases our ability to critically asses and analyze a problem and certainly makes us less agile. Technology has certainly helped better our quality of life. Tasks requiring the smallest of mental labour can be conveniently offloaded to an electronic gadget thereby saving time, but reducing the amount of mental exercise we probably require to stay sharp. Assistance is good, but not at the cost of mental dullness.

Hi. You've made some good points in your essay. But the essay as a whole is very concise. You could devote a paragraph or two on explaining the points in at least two-three sentences. That said, you make some good points. You could elaborate on those some more :) Cheers.

Hi I'm using the 5lb book too. I've not signed up with Magoosh (nor do I plan to) but I find their articles incredibly helpful! They've got a lot of information/articles on how to prepare for GRE, tackle sample questions, approach essay writing, etc. I've signed up with Grockit GRE prep though, and it's doing me good. I prefer taking lots of Sectional tests - so I've found TCYOnline.com - you get five free tests (small sectionals) upon registration. But of course, I think these are for the Indian students, but you could sign up for the free tests and decide if you wish to continue. They've got a great Analytics dashboard which helps identify your weaknesses and strengths. Barron's online prep - take an online diagnostic. It'll personalise your prep according to your performance on there. You could consider this as well.

Hello everyone, I've begun preparing for GRE since mid January (with an unexpected one-month break in February :upset: ). I'd like to give my GRE by the end of April (and it's the fourth of April and I'm still scared to book the test date!). I think prep wise I'm being sincere. I've made considerable improvement in my Quant section and Verbal section. I put in an hour or two's effort everyday (since I'm working at a job which requires me to also spend two hours on commute). I seem to have plateaued in terms of progress. I'm aiming for a good GRE score (around 310+) but now I'm not really sure if I can reach that target. There are days where I do very well with practice questions and then there are days where I do horribly (like today for instance, I got every question on every RC incorrect). This demotivates me and it's hard to keep myself positive on days like this and I feel like a failure. Because of this I also feel like putting off taking mocks. Has anyone ever been in a place like this before or am I being too unrealistic? How do you suggest I deal with this? I've started doubting my self-worth, wondering if my English is really that bad that I can't correctly get the primary purpose of a passage? I do not even know how to asses my readiness for the GRE, or how much I COULD score, anything!