The Road Ahead – GRE“Well, I’m going to pursue a MBA.”

“A job experience will be better for me at this time.”

“A MS/M.Tech would be really beneficial right now.”

These are some of the common phrases that will roam around us when we are about to complete our Bachelor’s. But, even if we see right now, all of us don’t have a set aim in our minds. We are constantly marred by the question as to what will be our next step in life after our Bachelors.

While some prefer a job experience directly after graduation, many are interested in pursuing higher studies be it MBA/M.Tech/MS/ME. In order to pursue any of these degrees we need to give an entrance exam associated with them.

Depending upon on the field of interest; whether we want to be in a technical background or management or administrative services later, the possible options that strike our mind are the exams like CAT,UPSC,GMAT,GRE,GATE etc.

A recent study conducted by the Times of India shows that the students in India are showing a greater inclination for GRE as compared to other competitive exams. But what is it that makes GRE such a popular exam among Indians? Let’s find out.

As per Education pundits, a person with master’s degree has more competitive edge over the one with a bachelor’s only. The in-depth knowledge of a specialized area/field accumulated in a master’s degree is preferred for a prospective candidate by a company. Also, a post-graduate has more technical skills because of the practical knowledge imparted to them.

All these reasons certainly vouch for a better pay package and a better position in the organizational hierarchy. It is also evident from fact, that many of the managerial jobs and other high post jobs have a minimum education requirement of a master’s degree.

A report by Education Today magazine indicates that the better quantity and quality of practical knowledge and experience is provided in foreign universities. So, pursuing a master’s from a foreign university can be certainly more rewarding. This clearly shows why today’s youth are more inclined towards GRE.

Now, WHAT is GRE?

GRE is an acronym for Graduate Record Examination and is a compulsory examination for those who wish to pursue a master’s degree or Ph.d in USA, UK, SINGAPORE or any other English speaking country after completing the bachelor’s degree.The exam is conducted in two different formats.

(I) GRE subject tests which are achievement tests that measure your knowledge of a particular field of study. Each subject test is intended for students who have an undergraduate major.

(II) GRE general test which closely reflects the aptitude and the skills you need to succeed in today’s demanding graduate school programmes.

Exam pattern (General test)

The GRE revised General Test measures your verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills. Here’s a look at content covered in the three test sections — Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning and Analytical writing.

Verbal Reasoning — Measures your ability to analyse and evaluate written material and synthesize information obtained from it, analyse relationships among component parts of sentences and recognize relationships among words and concepts.

Quantitative Reasoning — Measures problem-solving ability, focusing on basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis.

Analytical Writing — Measures critical thinking and analytical writing skills, specifically your ability to articulate and support complex ideas clearly and effectively.

A unique feature of GRE is that being a computer adaptive test, it can be taken any time of the year. All one has to do is book a date to write GRE.

When to start?

This is the question that plagues most of the pre final year and final year students. Many believe the GRE requires rigorous preparation, however, GRE is not very difficult exam.

As an undergrad, the Quantitative Reasoning section of the GRE shouldn’t be too difficult, especially after spending years in the company of mathematics.

But if you have had a healthy disdain for English throughout school, Verbal Ability is unlikely to be a cakewalk. So after taking everything into consideration, cracking the GRE does not require more than 4 months of preparation.

Here are a few suggestions for aspiring students

First and Second year Engineering –

Apply for your pass port
Focus well on your word lists and work on your verbal

Third year Engineering

Look up schools of your interest and professors you would like to work with
Contact graduate students there to see what they think of the school and possibility of aid.
Take up the GRE exam.
Take up the TOEFL exam

Final year Engineering –

Fill up application forms and mail them well in advance. Include time for requesting for recommendations.
Once your applications have reached the university, begin emailing the professors/departments requesting an assistantship.

What gets you a good scholarship? (Things to take care of as an undergrad)

Whether one likes it or not, C.G plays a very important role in admissions. It is important that one is in the upper end of one’s class as far as academic ranking goes
Try to publish your technical work in various local conferences. For this, it is important for you to pick a faculty as your advisor and work with the faculty to produce impressive technical work in the course of your engineering. It might be good to meet with professors from other schools as well like IIT, BITS-Pilani, RECs and IISc to collaborate with them. Many of them can give impressive recommendations when you need it for your GRE. Having publications and visiting conferences reflects positively on your ability to pursue higher education.
It also pays to be well versed with some software packages like – MATLAB and Mathematica. I would also suggest familiarizing with C++/Java. Apart from the knowledge aspect, software skills might help you get an assistantship too.

Recommended Books

All About Words : An Adult Approach to Vocabulary Building by Maxwell Nurnberg, Morris Rosenblum
Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
Read up the word list from Reader’s digest. It’s pretty impressive
Read good author novels to get a better hang of verbal than mugging those vocabulary building books, which certainly are of help but reading gives more knowledge.
Reading material for GRE/TOEFL from American Education Aids is strongly recommended since they give many original GRE papers. These were for the paper based GRE. They should still be useful for the computer based GRE at least in spirit.
Barron’s preparation guide for GRE

So, if you have to give GRE, plan your first step carefully and smartly because well begun is half done.