The Computer Adaptive format of the GRE makes knowing this vocabulary even more critical. On a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT), the computer tries to determine your "scoring level" by asking you a series of questions. At the beginning of the test, the computer doesn't know anything about your scoring level, so it makes broad guesses. The first question will be of average difficulty, and if you get it right, the next question will be significantly more difficult. Similarly, if you get the first question wrong, the next one will be significangly easier. If you continue to answer questions correctly, your score keeps going up. The closer the computer gets to determining your final score (ie, the closer you get to the end of the section), the smaller the adjustment it makes as it recalculates your score based on your response to each question. The most important consquence of this structure is that questions at the beginning of the section have a greater impact on your score than do those toward the end of the section. Answering questions correctly at the beginning of the section can move your score up by about 40 to 80 points. By the end of the section, each question will only adjust your score by 10 or 20 points.
The bottom line is: It is crucial that you be able to correctly answer the first several questions on the section. As we've discussed, knowing the stem words in those questions and answer choices is the key to doing so. After all, an antonym that appears in the first ten questions for which you don't know the stem word is a question you can't do much with. An antonym for which you know the stem word and at least four of the five words in the answer choices is a piece of cake.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The verbal section of the GRE
Now that you know what kinds of words are tested on the GRE, we can look at how they are used in actual questions. Vocabulary is central to three of the four question types on the Verbal section (sentence completions, analogies, and antonyms) and pretty darn useful for the fourth (reading comprehension). Your use of language, which includes word choice, is also very important for the writing portion of the test. When answering analogy and antonym questions, the more words you can define in the stem (the words or words in the question) and in the answer choices, the greater your likelihood of choosing the correct answer to the question. Knowing which four answer choices don't work will get you to the credited response as surely as will knowing which one is right. You don't even have to know the word(s) in the correct answer, as long you can define and eliminate the ones in teh wrong answer choices. We call this the magic of Process of Elimination, or POE.
Sentence completions work in a similar way. First, you need to figure out the meaning of the words that belong in each blank. Then, you have to know the definitions of enough of the words in the answer choices to be able to narrow them down to a single answer, or at least a strong guess.
Ultimately, having a strong vocabulary is the key to getting the highest scores on the verbal section of the GRE. The difficulty level of a question on the test is determined by how many or few people on average will answer it correctly. What makes a sentence completion, analogy, or antonym question hard (ie, something that most people cannot answer correctly) is the difficulty of the vocabulary. For example, the hardest analogy may have the exact same relationship between the two words in the stem as the easiest analogy has, but the words in the former are much more obscure than those on the latter. To get the highest verbal score, you have to know the hardest words the GRE will test.
Sentence completions work in a similar way. First, you need to figure out the meaning of the words that belong in each blank. Then, you have to know the definitions of enough of the words in the answer choices to be able to narrow them down to a single answer, or at least a strong guess.
Ultimately, having a strong vocabulary is the key to getting the highest scores on the verbal section of the GRE. The difficulty level of a question on the test is determined by how many or few people on average will answer it correctly. What makes a sentence completion, analogy, or antonym question hard (ie, something that most people cannot answer correctly) is the difficulty of the vocabulary. For example, the hardest analogy may have the exact same relationship between the two words in the stem as the easiest analogy has, but the words in the former are much more obscure than those on the latter. To get the highest verbal score, you have to know the hardest words the GRE will test.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Using language
Humans communicate through language, and although gestures and facial expressions are important means of communication, we most often rely on words to express ourselves. How many times have you been frustrated because you didn't have the right words to say what you meant? The broader your vocabulary, the more precisely you can communicate your ideas to others.
It's a little bit like playing "Telephone," the game in which the first player whispers something to the second, and then the second player whispers what she heard to the third person, and so on. At the end, you find out how mangled the original sentence has become by the time it reaches the last person. The more carefully the first player articulates the sentence, the less extreme the alterations are along the way. Of course, playing Telephone is not much fun if the sentence doesn't change. The whole point of the game, after all, is to see how distorted the original sentence becomes. What is entertaining in Telephone, however, is only frustrating when you are trying to make a point. When you use words that sort of mean what you want to say, the margin of error for your listener or reader is much greater than if you can choose the words that mean exactly what you intend them to. In effect, you have greater control over the message when you have greater control over the words that convey it.
The way you express yourself may also have an impact on how people view you. How do you decide how "smart" you think someone is? These days it's probably not the fountain pen, or the monocle, or the stack of weighty tomes under someone's arm that gives you an impression of intelligence. For better or worse, people draw their sense of our abilities largely from the language we use. In the end, how you say something matters as much as what you are trying to say.
The same thing will be true in grad school: You will be evaluated not only by the ideas you have, but also by how well you convey those ideas. Words are the tools you will use to express yourself in your personal statement when you apply to grad school, and later in your coursework, seminar papers and publications. The more precisely you can use language, the more seriously your ideas will be taken.
It's a little bit like playing "Telephone," the game in which the first player whispers something to the second, and then the second player whispers what she heard to the third person, and so on. At the end, you find out how mangled the original sentence has become by the time it reaches the last person. The more carefully the first player articulates the sentence, the less extreme the alterations are along the way. Of course, playing Telephone is not much fun if the sentence doesn't change. The whole point of the game, after all, is to see how distorted the original sentence becomes. What is entertaining in Telephone, however, is only frustrating when you are trying to make a point. When you use words that sort of mean what you want to say, the margin of error for your listener or reader is much greater than if you can choose the words that mean exactly what you intend them to. In effect, you have greater control over the message when you have greater control over the words that convey it.
The way you express yourself may also have an impact on how people view you. How do you decide how "smart" you think someone is? These days it's probably not the fountain pen, or the monocle, or the stack of weighty tomes under someone's arm that gives you an impression of intelligence. For better or worse, people draw their sense of our abilities largely from the language we use. In the end, how you say something matters as much as what you are trying to say.
The same thing will be true in grad school: You will be evaluated not only by the ideas you have, but also by how well you convey those ideas. Words are the tools you will use to express yourself in your personal statement when you apply to grad school, and later in your coursework, seminar papers and publications. The more precisely you can use language, the more seriously your ideas will be taken.
Friday, October 9, 2009
What is the GRE?
The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is a multiple-choice admissions test intended for applicants to graduate schools. The GRE contains three sections that count toward your score.
- One 75 minute 'Analytical Writing' (essay) section that contains two essay questions.
- One 30 minute 'Verbal Reasoning' (vocabulary and reading) section that contains 30 questions.
- One 45 minute 'Quantitative Reasoning' (math) section that contains 28 questions.
- Analyze an issue
- Analyze an argument
- Antonyms
- Sentence completion
- Analogies
- Reading comprehension
- Four choice quantitative comparison
- Five choice problem solving questions
- Enter a number problems
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